Proposal to develop an Ocean Biogeographic Information System in South America (OBISSA).

LEWIS, MIRTHA

San Diego, California. USA

Workshop; First Ocean Biogeographic Information System International Meeting. San Diego Supercomputing Centre; 2004

OBISSA

OBIS is formalizing and expanding its management structure and this proposal cover the response to its rapid global expansion. The International Committee (IC), which establishes and directs the overall strategy and direction for OBIS, established that a manager coordinate the development of regional and national OBIS nodes and act as responsible for growth and maintenance of the federated, distributed data system. The proposal shows an enormous potential to make data accessible in descriptive ways by fostering of scientific articles, inventories, thematic reviews, identification keys, taxonomic reviews and short communications related to OBIS South America. Also, each region should be involved in one or more themes or scientific questions to integrate the information and to get answers of scientific value as biodiversity patterns that may have driven species diversity in the past and present. The Atlantic region will focus in: (i) support management and exploitation of fisheries and calcareous sediments, (ii) assist on strategic actions to secure the survivorship of endangered species, and (iii) control of invasive organisms including pathogens. The goal of Pacific is get a more comprehensive understanding of the patterns of marine biodiversity for effective management and conservation marine systems. The Southern Ocean promotes the conservation of the marine systems and resources using top predators data to define, in space and time, critical habitats, areas and processes. Sea birds and marine mammals' population can have considerable impact on marine resources because they are abundant in SW Atlantic and often forage in localized areas overlapped with the fisheries that operate on the continental shelf.   All these results will help develop tools to engage a broad variety of users and a better comprehension of the large marine ecosystem.