MorphBank: Web Image Database Technology for Comparative Morphology and Biodiversity Research

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Florida State University is granted an award to enhance the MorphBank Image database. Many biological disciplines rely for their data primarily on observations of appropriately prepared specimens. A few examples include comparative anatomy, histology, morphological phylogenetics, and taxonomic research. The need for access to suitable specimens constitutes a significant hurdle to rapid progress in these disciplines. However, in many cases data of comparable quality can be generated from photographs of the specimens instead of from the specimens themselves. The development of fast Internet connections and the availability of low-cost high-quality digital imaging techniques is currently revolutionizing research and teaching in these disciplines, and recent years have seen a rapid proliferation of 2D- and 3D-image databases of biological specimens on the web. MorphBank (www.morphbank.net), not to be confused with MorphoBank, is a searchable web repository of images for comparative morphology and biodiversity research, originally conceived by a consortium of Swedish, Spanish and American systematic entomologists. It currently contains about 6,000 images documenting morphological phylogenetics analyses, newly described taxa, and voucher specimens tied to GenBank sequences. MorphBank has been open to the user community for uploading of images since early 2003 and works well as a searchable image archive. The next steps in the development of specimen image databases focus on three projects, each exemplifying one important use case for such databases: (1) large phylogenetics projects; (2) remote annotation of natural history collections; and (3) comparative histology projects. The interdisciplinary research team, which includes biologists, computer scientists, a mathematician, and information retrieval specialists, will develop general technology that can easily be adapted to address the specific needs of each of these use cases, facilitating the incorporation of additional use cases in the future. In particular, the team will develop community annotation technology, making it possible for researchers to link their observations to specific images, without compromising the original image, and enabling their colleagues to search, process and comment on these annotations. The team will also develop the MorphBank user interface including a new image-handling client, develop networking technology to support database functionality, substantially revise and refine the table structure, and implement more sophisticated data filtering and backup technologies. Finally, the team aims to build an international network of institutions supporting MorphBank or MorphBank-compatible image databases and to spur the development of international standards for biological image databases. The MorphBank project provides ample opportunities for supporting educational and outreach activities through its open access to biological images and associated information.