AlgaeBase is a
global species database of information on all groups of
algae
Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...
, both
marine and
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
, as well as
sea-grass.
History
AlgaeBase began in March 1996,
[pdf]
/ref> founded by Michael Guiry.[ Text was copied from this source, which is available under a]
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
licence. (Se
here
.
By 2005, the database contained about 65,000 names.World Register of Marine Species
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
(WoRMS) to include taxonomic names of algae in WoRMS, thereby allowing WoRMS, as part of the Aphia database, to make its overview of all described marine species more complete. Synchronisation of the AlgaeBase data with Aphia and WoRMS was undertaken manually until March 2015, but this was very time-consuming, so an online application was developed to semi-automate the synchronisation, launching in 2015 in conjunction with Michael Guiry and the chief programmer of AlgaeBase, Pier Kuipers. After a long phase of further development and testing, the AlgaeBase harvester tool was implemented by the WoRMS data management team in early 2019. Since then, newly-added species in AlgaeBase are added to Aphia and, if marine, to WoRMS as well.[
]
Description
The database is hosted at the National University of Ireland
The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...
's Ryan Institute, in Galway
Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...
.[ It includes about all types of algae,]flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s, the sea-grasses.[ Information about each species' ]taxonomy
image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy
Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...
, nomenclature
Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...
and distribution is included, and the algae covered include terrestrial as well as marine and freshwater species, such as seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
s, phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...
, and freshwater algae. , marine species have the best coverage, including sea-grasses.[
As of 2014 there were nearly 17,000 images, and the database was being used by 2,000–3,000 individual visitors each day.][
As of 2023, there were about 170,000 species and infraspecies in AlgaeBase.][
]
Support and funding
The compilation of the data was funded by the Irish Government
The Government of Ireland () is the executive authority of Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet – is composed of ministers, each of whom must be a member of the , which consists of ...
Department of Education and Science's Programme for Research in Third-level Institutions ( PRTLI) 2, 3 and 4 programmes, to the Ryan Institute and the Environmental Change Institute, as well as by Atlantic Philanthropies, and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
.biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
research.[
, the main sponsors of the database are the Phycological Society of America, the British Phycological Society, the International Phycological Society, and the Korean Phycological Society. Programming is carried out by Pier Kuipers and Caoilte Guiry, and Michael Guiry. Jonathan Guthrie was responsible for programming much of earlier versions.][
]
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algaebase
Algae
Biodiversity databases
Databases in Ireland
Online taxonomy databases