EMODnet Biology
EMODnet Biology in a nutshell
The Maritime Policy Blue Book, welcomed by the European Council in 2007, announced that the European Commission would take steps to set up a European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) to improve access to high quality marine data for private bodies, public authorities and researchers.The biological lot focuses on gathering available information and data on the temporal and spatial distribution of species composition, including abundance and biomass of phytoplankton, zooplankton, macro-algae, angiosperms, invertebrate bottom fauna, bird communities, reptiles and sea mammals.
The overall objective of the biological lot is to assemble fragmented and inaccessible marine data into interoperable, publicly available data streams.
Link between EurOBIS & EMODnet Biology
The EurOBIS data infrastructure is used as the central hub for making biological data available within the biological lot of EMODnet.The EMODnet Biology Portal does not only give access to the European marine data available within EurOBIS, it also makes data products available. These data products represent aggregated EurOBIS data and are created either by data custodians or the EurOBIS data management team. These data products – available as data layers – can be combined with the raw data, providing added-value and support for a broader interpretation of the selected data.
The EMODnet Biology Lot has supported EurOBIS through a mini data grant programme. Through these mini-data grants, scientists were able to invest in the digitization of (historical) paper-based datasets and help prevent them from loss.
