Supporting Biodiversity Research Infrastructure with the Specify Database System

据估计，生物博物馆和植物标本馆收藏了30亿个动植物标本，记录了地球上生命的时空分布。四百年来的生物调查、物种描述以及博物馆和植物标本馆的存档已经产生了一个庞大的、全球分布的知识资源，记录了地球上的生物多样性。指定软件项目支持生物收集数据的计算机化。指定是一个生物收集数据库应用程序，在http://www.usobi.org/specify上免费提供支持和开发。指定当前被55个集合使用。在这个项目中，指定的核心数据管理将得到增强，界面的可用性将得到改进和扩展，以便用户可以自定义所考虑的web组件。此外，还将与物种分析网络全面整合。为收集提供帮助台和技术支持。总体而言，“指定项目”将使捕获和整合数百万个标本记录到计算架构中，从而使环境科学的跨领域研究和教育成为可能。

Biological museums and herbaria are estimated to contain three billion animal and plant specimens that document the temporal and spatial distribution of life on earth. Four hundred years of biological survey, species description and archiving in museums and herbaria have produced a massive, globally distributed knowledge resource documenting the planet's biological diversity. The Specify Software Project supports the computerization of biological collections data. Support and development of Specify, a biological collections database application, is provided free of charge at http://www.usobi.org/specify. Specify is currently used by 55 collections. In this project, Specify's core data management will be enhanced and the usability of the interface will be improved and extended so that users can customize the web components considered. Further, there will be full integration with the Species Analyst Network. A help desk and technical support are provided to collections. Overall, the Specify Project will enable the capture and integration of millions of specimen records into computing architectures that will enable cross-domain research and education in environmental science.