Informational Databases for Ichthyology

关于动植物的信息（分布、生态学、生物学）是围绕物种（种类）进行分类的。在鱼类中，大约有25000种不同的物种（但有55000个名字）。关于我们所积累的关于鱼类的知识，目前还没有一个有效的总结，尽管每年都有关于知识增长的总结。但是，分类总是在变化的，比如当科学上的物种名称发生变化，或者物种被转移到新的属，或者发现了新的物种，从而使任务或跟踪信息变得复杂。关于科学名称和分类的信息大多发表在分散的小型科学论文中，并在世界范围内遵循某些（命名）规则。计算机允许建立数据库来管理名称问题（分类）和先验知识的积累。该项目建立在先前的一项资助的基础上，该资助成功地为13,500种鱼类和大约6,500篇与这些属的描述或状态有关的文献引文准备了一个数据库。准备出版“鱼类属”是本项目的目标之一。该项目还允许扩展到科、物种（将开始但尚未完成）和更多的文献，并允许对新软件和其他技术（包括数据标准）进行检查，以更好地实现目标。该项目将侧重于设计一个系统，该系统既能满足科学界的需要，又能向需要当前生物信息的许多用户提供联机访问。这个项目可以作为其他生物学学科的一个模型，它在未来应该有重要的价值，这样它将允许更好地获得信息，包括更好地总结世界动物多样性。

Information about animals and plants (distribution, ecology, biology) is organized around species (kinds) in a classification. In fishes there are about 25,000 different species (but with 55,000 names). There is no effective summary about our accumulated knowledge of fishes, although yearly summaries of the increase in knowledge are available. But classifications are always changing, as when scientific species names are changed or species are moved to new genera or new species are found, thus complicating the task or keeping track of information. The information on scientific names and classifications is mostly published in scattered small scientific papers, and follows certain (nomenclatural) rules on a World basis. Computers allow the building of databases to manage both the problems of names (taxonomy) and the accumulation of prior knowledge. This project builds on a previous grant that allowed the successful preparation of a database for the 13,500 genera of fishes and about 6,500 literature citations having to do with the description or status of these genera. Preparing the "genera of fishes" for publication is one of the goals of the present project. The project also allows expansion to cover families, species (will be started but not completed), and more literature, and allows for an examination of new software and other techniques (including data standards) to better meet the objectives. The project will focus on designing a system that meets the needs of the scientific community but also can provide on-line access to the many users in need of current biological information. This project can serve as a model for other biological disciplines, and it should have significant value in the future, such that it will allow better availability of information, including better summaries of the World's faunal diversity.