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

MorphBank：用于比较形态学和生物多样性研究的网络图像数据库技术

• 批准号: 0446224
• 负责人: Gregory Riccardi
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-07-01 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0446224&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MorphBank; Web; Image; Database; Technology

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.

佛罗里达州立大学被授予增强MorphBank图像数据库的奖项。许多生物学学科的数据主要依赖于对适当制备的标本的观察。一些例子包括比较解剖学、组织学、形态系统发育学和分类学研究。对获得合适标本的需求构成了这些学科快速发展的重大障碍。然而，在许多情况下，质量相当的数据可以从标本的照片而不是从标本本身产生。快速互联网连接的发展和低成本高质量数字成像技术的可用性正在这些学科的研究和教学中发生革命性的变化，近年来，网络上生物标本的2D和3d图像数据库迅速扩散。MorphBank (www.morphbank.net)，不要与MorphoBank混淆，是一个可搜索的网络图像存储库，用于比较形态学和生物多样性研究，最初由瑞典、西班牙和美国的系统昆虫学家组成的联盟构想。它目前包含大约6000张图像，记录形态系统发育分析，新描述的分类群，以及与GenBank序列相关的凭证标本。自2003年初以来，MorphBank已经向用户社区开放，可以上传图像，并且作为一个可搜索的图像存档也很好。标本图像数据库开发的下一步重点放在三个项目上，每个项目都体现了这些数据库的一个重要用例：(1)大型系统发育项目；(2)博物馆藏远程注释；(3)比较组织学项目。跨学科的研究团队，包括生物学家、计算机科学家、数学家和信息检索专家，将开发通用技术，可以很容易地适应这些用例中的每个用例的特定需求，促进将来合并其他用例。特别是，该团队将开发社区注释技术，使研究人员能够将他们的观察与特定图像联系起来，而不会损害原始图像，并使他们的同事能够搜索，处理和评论这些注释。该团队还将开发MorphBank用户界面，包括一个新的图像处理客户端，开发支持数据库功能的网络技术，大幅修改和完善表结构，并实现更复杂的数据过滤和备份技术。最后，该团队的目标是建立一个支持MorphBank或与MorphBank兼容的图像数据库的国际机构网络，并促进生物图像数据库国际标准的发展。MorphBank项目通过开放获取生物图像和相关信息，为支持教育和推广活动提供了充足的机会。