HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Avibase is an online taxonomic database that organizes
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
taxonomic and distribution data globally. At its core, the database relies on the notion of taxonomic concepts. rather than taxonomic names (see also for the rationale of using taxonomic concepts). Avibase incorporates and organizes taxonomic data from the main avian taxonomic publishers ('' The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'', ''
Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...
'',
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
, IOC Checklist and the '' Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World'') and other regional sources (e.g. all editions of the '' American Ornithological Society Checklist of North American Birds'' since 1886). Taxonomic concepts in over 230 different taxonomic sources have been mapped and cross-referenced to Avibase concepts. The website also offers checklists for more than 20,000 geographic regions of the world, species pages with taxonomic information and synonyms, and tools for observers to maintain their own sightings and obtain reports (e.g. map showing countries or
eBird eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the proje ...
hotspots with the number of target species that are missing from one of their life list).


History and purpose

Avibase was created and is maintained by Denis Lepage, currently senior director, data science and technology at Birds Canada. The data contained in Avibase has been gathered starting around 1991. The Avibase website was launched in June 2003 and has been hosted by Birds Canada (formerly Bird Studies Canada) since its inception.


Features

Taxonomic concepts. The database is organized primarily around a table of unique taxonomic concepts. Each concept represents a unique biological circumscription and has been assigned a unique alphanumeric ID called Avibase ID. Avibase IDs allow the tracking of congruent taxonomic concepts among publication sources. There are approximately 58,000 unique taxonomic concepts described in Avibase. These include concepts traditionally recognized as species and subspecies, but also other taxonomic groupings (subspecies groups), various alternative taxonomic treatments recognized historically, and other concepts representing hybrids, color morphs and invalid or dubious forms. Nomenclature data. Each scientific name is also described to include citation data and the name associated with the original description. Approximately 48,000 acts have been recorded in Avibase, and various types of
synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are ...
are also available. Regional species checklists are available for more than 20,000 regions of the world. This includes all countries, territories and dependencies, and most regions defined in the
GADM GADM, the Database of Global Administrative Areas, is a high-resolution database of country administrative areas, with a goal of "all countries, at all levels, at any time period." Although it is a public database, GADM has a higher spatial res ...
subnational layers such as provinces, states, prefectures, counties, departments, municipalities and districts (GADM levels 1 and 2), as well as over 2,500 islands. Regional checklists are available in several taxonomic formats and can also incorporate
common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contra ...
s in a variety of languages. Data for regional checklists originates from a wide number of sources, such as the eBird EBD dataset and forums such as the Facebook Global Rare Bird Alert. Common names and synonyms are available in 271 different languages and regional variants, and there are 21 languages that have a coverage greater than 85% of species with a known common name. MyAvibase, launched in 2013, provides free tools for users who want to maintain their life lists and generate reports that are focused on finding target species that the observer has not yet seen (where to go, what to see, when to go, how long to visit), or general regional statistics (e.g. total number of species by country).


Notes


References

* * * * * * * *


External links

*{{Official website, https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/ Ornithological citizen science *regional bird checklists Biodiversity databases Citizen science