| Overview |
Since the animal specimen collection management system of the Biodiversity Research Museum (BRMAS) has been established for more than 20 years, there have been problems with the operating system in recent years. For example, the specimen information cannot be either updated, revised, or repaired, obstructing the data management. Therefore, a new version of the collection management system is urgently needed. Accordingly, we will build the “introduction of specimen management process” on the Open Museum, transfer the old specimen information to the Open Museum, and customize and develop interface functions to meet the management needs and achieve online management of specimens. We expect to complete the data transfer of 25,000 whole fish voucher specimens, alcohol tissue samples, Cryobank samples, and 300 paleontological specimens and import about 6,500 digital images of fish specimens, 1,700 digital images of fish X-ray skeletons, and 200 digital images of paleontological specimens. We hope Academia Sinica’s biodiversity research resources can be more comprehensively applied to academic research and science education to support the vision of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.
In this project, we will review the contributions of Dr. Kwang-Tsao Shao, the principal investigator of the Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica (BRCAS), and the pioneer of biodiversity informatics in Taiwan. Specifically, the project will be targeted at the establishment history of the “The Fish Database of Taiwan”, that has been maintained by Dr. Shao for over 30 years. Meanwhile, we will emphasize the processes that Dr. Shao integrated several biodiversity databases in Taiwan (Catalogue of Life in Taiwan, TaiCOL; Taiwan Biodiversity Information Facility, TaiBIF; Taiwan Barcode of Life, TaiBOL; Taiwan Encyclopedia of Life, TaiEOL; Taiwan Biodiversity Observation Network, TaiBON) and connected those databases with international biodiversity archives. In summary, we hope to synthesize the efforts that integrate the biodiversity information and improve the data openness in Taiwan. |
