
Data from millions of museum specimens, such as this Ziziphus celata or Florida jujube, are now available to scientists around the world via digital databases such as iDigBio. Florida Museum photo by Jeff Gage
A group of Florida Museum of Natural History scientists has issued a “call to action” to use big data to tackle longstanding questions about plant diversity and evolution and forecast how plant life will fare on an increasingly human-dominated planet.
In a commentary published today in Nature Plants, the scientists urged their colleagues to take advantage of massive, open-access data resources in their research and help grow these resources by filling in remaining data gaps.
“Using big data to address major biodiversity issues at the global scale has enormous practical implications, ranging from conservation efforts to predicting and buffering the impacts of climate change,” said study author Doug Soltis, a Florida Museum curator and distinguished professor in the University of Florida department of biology. “The links between big data resources we see now were unimaginable just a decade ago. The time is ripe to leverage these tools and applications, not just for plants but for all groups of organisms.”
Over several centuries, natural history museums have built collections of billions of specimens and their associated data, much of which is now available online. New technologies such as remote sensors and drones allow scientists to monitor plants and animals and transmit data in real time. And citizen scientists are contributing biological data by recording and reporting their observations via digital tools such as iNaturalist.
Together, these data resources provide scientists and conservationists with a wealth of information about the past, present and future of life on Earth. As these databases have grown, so have the computational tools needed not only to analyze but also link immense data sets.
Studies that previously focused on a handful of species or a single plant community can now expand to a global level, thanks to the development of databases such as GenBank, which stores DNA sequences, iDigBio, a University of Florida-led effort to digitize U.S. natural history collections, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, a repository of species’ location information.
These resources can be valuable to a wide range of users, from scientists in pursuit of fundamental insights into plant evolution and ecology to land managers and policymakers looking to identify the regions most in need of conservation, said Julie Allen, co-lead author and an assistant professor in the University of Nevada-Reno department of biology.
If Earth’s plant life were a medical patient, small-scale studies might examine the plant equivalent of a cold sore or an ingrown toenail. With big data, scientists can gain a clearer understanding of global plant health as a whole, make timely diagnoses and prescribe the right treatment plans.
Such plans are urgently needed, Allen said.
“We’re in this exciting and terrifying time in which the unprecedented amount of data available to us intersects with global threats to biodiversity such as habitat loss and climate change,” said Allen, a former Florida Museum postdoctoral researcher and UF doctoral graduate. “Understanding the processes that have shaped our world – how plants are doing, where they are now and why – can help us get a handle on how they might respond to future changes.”
Why is it so vital to track these regional and global changes?
“We can’t survive without plants,” said co-lead author and museum research associate Ryan Folk. “A lot of groups evolved in the shadow of flowering plants. As these plants spread and diversified, so did ants, beetles, ferns and other organisms. They are the base layer to the diversity of life we see on the planet today.”
In addition to using and growing plant data resources, the authors hope the scientific community will address one of the toughest remaining obstacles to using biological big data: getting databases to work smoothly with each other.
“This is still a huge limitation,” Allen said. “The data in each system are often collected in completely different ways. Integrating these to connect in seamless ways is a major challenge.”
Learn more: SCIENTISTS: ‘TIME IS RIPE’ TO USE BIG DATA FOR PLANET-SIZED PLANT QUESTIONS
The Latest on: Big data to address major biodiversity issues at the global scale
via Google News
The Latest on: Big data to address major biodiversity issues at the global scale
- Transitioning trade finance is ESG’s biggest challengeon January 25, 2021 at 9:15 am
If the market for sustainable finance is ever to achieve true scale, it needs to crack the tough nut of sustainable trade finance solutions.
- Logistics players expect working capital package in Budgeton January 24, 2021 at 3:27 pm
New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) The logistics industry which has been impacted by the pandemic expects the upcoming Union Budget to announce a working capital package for the sector.The industry also expects ...
- Three sustainable investing themes for 2021on January 23, 2021 at 10:03 pm
Global Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investing Sustainable investing identifies themes that will grow in importance based on our needs as human beings. We need a stable climate to survive and, ...
- How 6 Bay Area tech titans are giving Covid vaccine distribution their best shoton January 22, 2021 at 2:44 pm
Giants such as Salesforce, Oracle, Uber, Lyft, Eventbrite and Cloudflare are among those leading or participating in projects to ramp up the distribution of vaccines to millions of Americans. “The ...
- Better Liquidity, Institutional Framework: Here’s What Lending Startups Expect FM To Address In Union Budget 2021on January 21, 2021 at 5:40 am
Besides demanding a regulatory push for digital lending to bring TReDS, OCEN and AA to mainstream, lending startups, NBFCs speak of a slew of issues that need to be addressed in the upcoming Union Bud ...
- Taking On The World: Global Ventureson January 18, 2021 at 7:54 pm
And this is one of the reasons why the Dubai-headquartered venture capital (VC) firm, Global Ventures, has, ever since its launch, always stayed on my radar. Led by General Partners Noor Sweid and ...
- Rise to the Challenges, Serve the Nation and Embark on a New Journey for Major-Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristicson January 18, 2021 at 1:19 am
Wang Yi State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of The People’s Republic of China I In 2020, our world went through a pandemic and global changes, both of a scale unseen in a century. It was ...
- EU Plots Rules to Keep Big Tech on Tight Leash: Brussels Editionon January 13, 2021 at 11:32 pm
Obtaining EU approval clinches a transformational deal for the 300-year-old London bourse, giving it global scale as firms vie to meet surging demand for data and analytics in increasingly ...
- Holman Head 'ONI is utilizing big data to drive improvements'on January 13, 2021 at 5:44 am
Holman Head retired from his role as president and chief operating officer of O’Neal Industries, Inc. at the end of September. He recalls the substantial growth of the business during his 40-year ...
- Cybersecurity Insurance Has a Big Problemon January 11, 2021 at 8:31 pm
There’s literally not enough money to keep the system afloat in the event of a major attack ... In 2020, according to data proprietary to the team I lead, the global insurance community saw ...
via Bing News