The Catalogue of Life is an online database that provides an index of known species of

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global

Species 2000 Species 2000 is a federation of database organizations around the world that compiles the ''Catalogue of Life'', a comprehensive checklist of the world's species, in partnership with the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). The creatio ...

and the American Integrated Taxonomic Information System. The Catalogue is used by research scientists, citizen scientists, educators, and policy makers. The Catalogue is also used by the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the

Barcode of Life Data System The Barcode of Life Data System (commonly known as BOLD or BOLDSystems) is a web platform specifically devoted to DNA barcoding. It is a cloud-based data storage and analysis platform developed at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics in Canada. I ...

Encyclopedia of Life The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of ...

, and the

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

. The Catalogue currently compiles data fro
165 peer-reviewed taxonomic databases
that are maintained by specialist institutions around the world. , the COL Checklist lists 2,067,951 of the world's 2.2m extant

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

known to taxonomists on the planet at present time.

Structure

The Catalogue of Life employs a simple data structure to provide information on synonymy, grouping within a taxonomic hierarchy, common names, distribution and ecological environment. It provides a dynamic edition, which is updated monthly (and in which data can change without tracking of those changes) and an Annual Checklist, which provides a dated, verifiable reference for the usage of names and associated data. Development of the Catalogue of Life was funded through the Species 2000 europa (EuroCat), 4d4Life, i4Life projects in 2003–2013, and currently by the

Naturalis Biodiversity Center Naturalis Biodiversity Center ( nl, Nederlands Centrum voor Biodiversiteit Naturalis) is a national museum of natural history and a research center on biodiversity in Leiden, Netherlands. It was named the European Museum of the Year 2021. ...

, Leiden, the Netherlands and Species Files group at

Illinois Natural History Survey The Illinois Natural History Survey (abbreviated as INHS), located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in Champaign, Illinois, is an active research institution with over 200 staff members, and it maintains one of th ...

in Champaign-Urbana.

Usage

Much of the use of the Catalogue is to provide a backbone taxonomy for other global data portals and biological collections. Through the i4Life project, it has formal partnerships with

, European Nucleotide Archive,

, European

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

, and Life Watch. The public interface includes both search and browse functions as well as offering multi-lingual services. The Catalogue listed 300,000 species by 2003, 500,000 species by 2005, and over 800,000 species by 2006. , the Catalogue listed 1.9 million extant and extinct

. There are an estimated 14 million mainly unpublished species; however, this number is uncertain as there is a lack of data on the possible number of undescribed insects, nematodes, bacteria, fungi and many others.

Catalogue of Life Plus

In 2015, an expert panel presented a consensus hierarchical classification of life which included some sectors not yet represented in the published ''Catalogue''. In the same year, the Catalogue of Life, Barcode of Life Data System, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Encyclopedia of Life, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) met to consider building a single shared authoritative nomenclature and taxonomic foundation "Catalogue of Life Plus" that could be used to order and connect biodiversity data, including content not yet in CoL but available via other sources, to serve both the users of the present ''Catalogue'' and users of extended taxonomic content (such as GBIF) using a common infrastructure. COL+ will develop a clearinghouse covering scientific names across all life, provide a single taxonomic view, and provide an avenue for feedback from content authorities. The CoL is developing in conjunction with the Global Species List Working Group to avoid replication and work towards an authoritative global list of species.

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite journal, doi=10.3897/biss.2.26922, title=Catalogue of Life Plus: Innovating the CoL systems as a foundation for a clearinghouse for names and taxonomy, journal=Biodiversity Information Science and Standards, volume=2, pages=e26922, year=2018, last1=Bánki, first1=Olaf, last2=Döring, first2=Markus, last3=Holleman, first3=Ayco, last4=Addink, first4=Wouter, doi-access=free {{cite journal, doi=10.1111/j.1749-4877.2006.00007.x, pmid=21395986, title=Towards an index of all known species: The Catalogue of Life, its rationale, design and use, journal=Integrative Zoology, volume=1, issue=1, pages=18–21, year=2006, last1=Cachuela-Palacio, first1=Monalisa, doi-access=free {{cite news, last=Harmon, first=Joanie, title=Animal, vegetable, data: Exploring the online 'Catalogue of Life', newspaper=UCLA News Room, url=http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/robert-montoya-catalogue-of-life, date=2 December 2016, access-date=23 June 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624122714/http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/robert-montoya-catalogue-of-life, archive-date=24 June 2018, url-status=live {{cite web , title=About the Catalogue of Life: 2018 Annual Checklist , url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2018/info/about , work=Catalogue of Life , publisher=

, access-date=10 May 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530035147/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2018/info/about , archive-date=30 May 2018 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Species estimates , url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/info/hierarchy#estimates , work=Catalogue of Life , publisher=

, access-date=7 February 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209124758/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/info/hierarchy#estimates , archive-date=9 February 2019 , url-status=live {{cite journal, doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0119248, pmid=25923521, title=A Higher Level Classification of All Living Organisms, journal=PLOS ONE, volume=10, issue=4, pages=e0119248, year=2015, last1=Ruggiero, first1=Michael A, last2=Gordon, first2=Dennis P, last3=Orrell, first3=Thomas M, last4=Bailly, first4=Nicolas, last5=Bourgoin, first5=Thierry, last6=Brusca, first6=Richard C, last7=Cavalier-Smith, first7=Thomas, last8=Guiry, first8=Michael D, last9=Kirk, first9=Paul M, pmc=4418965, bibcode=2015PLoSO..1019248R, doi-access=free United Nations Environment Programme (2002)
Global Environment Outlook 3: Past, Present and Future Perspectives.
EarthScan Publications, London. p 120

Structure

Usage

Catalogue of Life Plus

See also

References

Further reading

External links