World Register Research Articles

Southern Ocean Asteroidea: aproposed update for the Register of Antarctic Marine Species.

BackgroundThe Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS, De Broyer et al. 2015) is the regional component of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board 2015) in the Southern Ocean. It has been operating for the last ten years, with a special effort devoted towards its completion after the International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007-2008, in the framework of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, 2005 - 2010). Its objective is to offer free and open access to a complete register of all known species living in the Southern Ocean, building a workbench of the present taxonomic knowledge for that region. The Antarctic zone defined by this dynamic and community-based tool has been investigated with a particular interest. The Sub-Antarctic zone was a secondary objective during the establishment of the RAMS and is still lacking the impulse of the scientific community for some taxa.New informationIn the present study, more than 13,000 occurrences records of Asteroidea (Echinodermata) have been compiled within the RAMS area of interest and checked against the RAMS species list of sea stars, using WoRMS Taxon Match tool. Few mismatches (basionym mistakes : i.e. original name misspelled or incorrect) were found within the existing list and 97 unregistered species are actually occurring within the RAMS boundaries. After this update, the number of Asteroidea species was increased by around 50%, now reaching 295 accepted species.

Scientific death-knell against databases? Errors induced by database manipulations and its consequences

References to Terebratulina caputserpentis attributing its authorship to Zbyszewski, 1957, not to Linnaeus, 1767, have been found in three recent publications, in the collections of the Museum National d'Histoire naturelle de Paris and in several online databases. The use in these databases seems to have arisen from WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species), specifically from WBD (World Brachiopoda Database) of which the three authors of this paper are the editors (authors). The page concerning T. caputserpentis (Linnaeus, 1767) has been modified by WoRMS staff without the knowledge of these editors (authors). The decrease of the specialists in systematics and their replacement by IT specialists question the scientific reliability of the online databases as well as the specimen labelling in museums. The absence of scientific rigour becomes their Achilles' heel. Several other cases of errors are quoted and developed. In spite of applications to the staff of databases in biodiversity, the situation continued degrading so much so that today these bases are reached by the Peter principle and can no longer be used for scientific requirements, except if verifying all the desired data.

Performing selves: The trope of authenticity and Robert Wilson's stage production ofI La Galigo

In 2010, La Galigo, a Bugis mythological epic describing the founding of the human world, was included in UNESCO's Memory of the World register. This accolade again brought La Galigo into the international spotlight, as had occurred when Robert Wilson's stage playI La Galigo, based on this epic, debuted in Singapore in 2004. Wilson's production received acclaim and critique, with reviews primarily focusing on his ability to achieve an authentic representation of Bugis identity and their past. These responses raise questions around the presupposition that there is an authentic Bugis identity and past that can be publicly recreated. This article analyses the concept of authenticity through reviews of Wilson's production and the work of key theorists to show that for many people, authenticity is achievable and of critical importance in underpinning any sense of a unified and singular ethnic identity, while for others, identity is always already a mix of different global influences and as such is either irrelevant, or liberated from a sense of a singular heritage.

Biases in biodiversity: wide-ranging species are discovered first in the deep sea

Calculating global estimates for total species richness is fraught by the uncertainty in estimating the number of species left to be discovered. The deep-sea is widely regarded as one of the largest sources of uncertainty in these calculations, since so much of this realm has not yet been explored. Most estimates of species left to be discovered are reliant on previous rates of species description, yet these rates are likely to be biased. One well known bias from terrestrial studies is that wide-ranging species tend to be described earlier. To test this hypothesis for the deep sea, spatial data from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System were combined with taxonomic data from the World Register of Marine Species to carry out a meta-analysis on all species records found below 300 m. Results show a historical bias in species descriptions, with wide-ranging species over-represented in our current catalogues of deep-sea species richness. This suggests that current estimates of deep-sea species richness underestimate the true proportion of narrow-ranged species and hence total species in the deep oceans.

Biological and ecological traits of marine species.

This paper reviews the utility and availability of biological and ecological traits for marine species so as to prioritise the development of a world database on marine species traits. In addition, the ‘status’ of species for conservation, that is, whether they are introduced or invasive, of fishery or aquaculture interest, harmful, or used as an ecological indicator, were reviewed because these attributes are of particular interest to society. Whereas traits are an enduring characteristic of a species and/or population, a species status may vary geographically and over time. Criteria for selecting traits were that they could be applied to most taxa, were easily available, and their inclusion would result in new research and/or management applications. Numerical traits were favoured over categorical. Habitat was excluded as it can be derived from a selection of these traits. Ten traits were prioritized for inclusion in the most comprehensive open access database on marine species (World Register of Marine Species), namely taxonomic classification, environment, geography, depth, substratum, mobility, skeleton, diet, body size and reproduction. These traits and statuses are being added to the database and new use cases may further subdivide and expand upon them.

Are Reservoirs Water Consumers or Water Collectors? Reflections on the Water Footprint Concept Applied on Reservoirs

IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources (2011) revealed potentially very high water consumption rates from hydropower production compared to other renewable technologies, but suffered from few studies and methodological problems. More recent studies present new estimates values far beyond those presented by IPCC, some claiming that hydropower is a large-scale water consumer, but do not provide a more consistent picture of the ‘true water consumption of hydropower’. We compiled data from ICOLD’s World Register of Dams, considered being the most extensive and complete global dataset of reservoirs and dams larger than 15 m containing description of close to 40 000 dams and reservoirs. We coupled this dataset with water scarcity information about the location of the individual projects and found that only very few reservoirs located in water-scarce areas are used exclusively for hydropower production or have that as their main purpose (fewer than 0.1 %). As the purpose of the majority of the reservoirs located in water-scarce areas are to collect water in the wet season to secure adequate supply of water for irrigation, domestic supply, industry and more purposes in the dry season, we find it fundamentally problematic to assign a water footprint to such an infrastructure, even though the purpose of these reservoirs might also be to produce electricity. Rather opposite - the fact that reservoirs increase the availability of water in the dry season make reservoirs needed. We conclude that assigning water footprint/consumption values of reservoirs will convey the wrong message to decision-makers unless the reservoirs’ effect on the availability of local water resources is fully accounted for.

The Decreta of Leon (Spain) of 1188 as the Birthplace of Parliamentarism: An Historical Review from a Time of Crisis

The recognition of The Decreta of Leon of 1188 as the “oldest documentary manifestation of the European parliamentary system” by UNESCO on 19 June 2013 and its inclusion in the International Memory of the World Register is the starting point of this paper. The article is based on the following dialectic methodology. Thesis: England first developed the idea of representative government and parliamentary institutions. Antithesis: the Decreta of Leon 1188 predates any historical reference to parliamentary representation. Synthesis: citizen attendance, the procedure and the content of the Decreta of Leon 1188, supported by the UNESCO recognition proves that Leon is the “cradle of parliamentarism”. This historical review seeks to stimulate reflection about the present situation of parliamentary democracy and, in particular, the crisis it is undergoing. The need of citizen re-engagement with political processes , especially via the involvement of constitutional conventions in the amendment of constitutions should be our point of reference. What are the main lessons from history for today?

Major histocompatibility complex genetic variants in potential hematopoietic stem cells donors in Republic of Kazakhstan

Aim. To compare the prevalence of HLA-system antigens genetic variants in potential hematopoietic stem cells donors in Kazakhstan and worldwide.Methods. Prevalence of HLA-antigens genetic variants in blood samples of potential hematopoietic stem cells donors included in hematopoietic stem cells donors register of Kazakhstan was analyzed and compared to a «Allele frequencies in Worldwide populations» database developed by the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.Results. The biggest overlap of Kazakhstan and World registers was seen in the distribution of 31-01 allele: 68 (4.5%) in Kazakhstan register, 1678 (4.63%) worldwide; odds ratio (OR) = 0.97 (0.76 to 1.24), F=0.851441, χ2=0.06. The biggest difference between the two registers was found in the distribution of locus A antigens: A 02-01 (χ2=24.59), A 02-07 (χ2=24.42), A 32-01 (χ2=27.1), A 02-37 (χ2=23.96), A 11-38 (χ2=3.96). In locus B alleles, the biggest overlap between the two comparison groups was in В 14:02 allele: Kazakhstan register - 31 (2.05%), worldwide register - 757 (2.01%) [OR=1.02 (0.71 to 1.47), F=0.851990, χ2=0.01], followed by 38:02 (χ2=0.02), 44:05 (χ2=0.03), in 27:07 (χ2=0.04), 54:01 (χ2=0.07). The biggest difference between the two registers was in 13:02 (χ2=256.9), 08:01 (χ2=26.92) locus B alleles. Distribution of locus C alleles was discovered to have the biggest statistical similarity of two registers provided by C 07:01 (χ2=0.07), 08:02 (χ2=0.15), 15:02 (χ2=0.23) 12:03 (χ2=0.76). The biggest difference in the distribution of locus C alleles between the two registers was in 06:02 (χ2=125.78) and C 03:02 (χ2=103.64).Conclusion. The overlap of HLA-antigens genetic variants distribution in Kazakhstan and global registers varies from 41 to 52% by loci (locus A - 50%, B - 52%, C - 48%, DRB1 - 51%, DQB1 - 41%, mean 48.4%, median 50%). Kazakhstan register contains information on unique HLA-antigens genetic variants not included in the general database, manifesting the need for national register development and its integration into the «Allele frequencies in Worldwide populations» register.

Quality in medical education.

A world register of medical schools is a good idea DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/cmj.v45i2.8000 CMJ 2000; 45: 55-57

The LifeWatch approach to the exploration of distributed species information.

This paper introduces a new method of automatically extracting, integrating and presenting information regarding species from the most relevant online taxonomic resources. First, the information is extracted and joined using data wrappers and integration solutions. Then, an analytical tool is used to provide a visual representation of the data. The information is then integrated into a user friendly content management system. The proposal has been implemented using data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the Catalogue of Life (CoL), the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) and the Global Names Index (GNI). The approach improves data quality, avoiding taxonomic and nomenclature errors whilst increasing the availability and accessibility of the information.

Over 75 years of zooplankton data from Australia

Zooplankton are the key trophic link between primary producers and fish in pelagic ecosystems. Historically, there are few zooplankton time series in Australia, with no data sets longer than two years prior to 2008. Here we compile 98 676 abundance records of more than 1000 zooplankton taxa from unpublished research cruises, student projects, published literature, and the recent Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). This data set covers the entire coastal and shelf region of Australia and dates back to 1938. Most records are for copepods, but there are also data for other taxa such as decapods, chaetognaths, thaliaceans, appendicularians, and cladocerans. Metadata are provided for each record, including dates, coordinates, and information on mesh size and sampling methods. To facilitate analysis across the multiple data sets, we have updated the species names according to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and converted units to abundance per cubic meter. These data will be valuable for studies of biodiversity, biogeography, impacts of climate change, and ecosystem health. We encourage researchers holding additional Australian zooplankton data to contact us and contribute their data to the data set so we can periodically publish updates.

One, four or 100 genera? A new classification of the cone snails.

We present a new classification for the genus Conus sensu lato (family Conidae), based on molecular phylogenetic analyses of 329 species. This classification departs from both the traditional classification in only one genus and from a recently proposed shell- and radula-based classification scheme that separates members of this group into five families and 115 genera. Roughly 140 genus-group names are available for Recent cone snails. We propose to place all cone snails within a single family (Conidae) containing four genera—Conus, Conasprella, Profundiconus and Californiconus (with Conus alone encompassing about 85% of known species)—based on the clear separation of cone snails into four distinct and well-supported groups/lineages in molecular phylogenetic analyses. Within Conus and Conasprella, we recognize 57 and 11 subgenera, respectively, that represent well-supported subgroupings within these genera, which we interpret as evidence of intrageneric distinctiveness. We allocate the 803 Recent species of Conidae listed as valid in the World Register of Marine Species into these four genera and 71 subgenera, with an estimate of the confidence for placement of species in these taxonomic categories based on whether molecular or radula and/or shell data were used in these determinations. Our proposed classification effectively departs from previous schemes by (1) limiting the number of accepted genera, (2) retaining the majority of species within the genus Conus and (3) assigning members of these genera to species groups/subgenera to enable the effective communication of these groups, all of which we hope will encourage acceptance of this scheme.

A New Critical Estimate of Named Species-Level Diversity of the Recent Mollusca*

Modern estimates of species-level diversity in the recent Mollusca range from 34,000 to 120,000 described species, with total diversity including undescribed species often cited as 200,000. Most estimates are unverifiable, not being based on reproducible methods. Ultimately the best way to gauge diversity is explicit enumeration: actual listing of known species. Comprehensive lists of species are valued as a basis for systematic revisions and for comparing diversity across taxa, but it is less appreciated that they also provide a means for statistical sampling of biodiversity databases. I assessed the completeness of molluscan species listings in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) by comparing it to a standardized inventory of the species represented in the Malacology collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP). Random samples of names were scored for presence or absence in WoRMS, with standard errors calculated from the binomial distribution. The WoRMS database has about 1,200 duplicate or extraneous listings for mollusk species and is missing about 1,300 (3%). Overall marine molluscan diversity is estimated at 43,600 ± 900 species, where 900 is a 95% confidence interval. The validity of this confidence interval depends on the WoRMS database and the ANSP collection not having correlated weaknesses. Lack of relatively complete species databases prevents similar assessments for terrestrial and freshwater mollusks, but, using less rigorous methods, I estimate that there are 70,000 to 76,000 described species of recent Mollusca.The low end of this estimate, 70,000 species, is similar to the number of recent chordate species, 69,000, so it is possible that the Mollusca are not the second most diverse phylum of animals in terms of recognized recent species. Naming rates for chordate are currently higher than for mollusk, 750 versus 600 species per year, although the Mollusca are regarded as having higher undescribed diversity. The Mollusca have long been considered the most species-rich marine phylum, but the estimate of 43,600 is substantially below the 56,000 species of Arthropoda listed in WoRMS. Globally, the ratio of marine gastropod to marine bivalve species in WoRMS is 4:1, which is higher than in any regional fauna, suggesting that gastropods have smaller geographic ranges on average than bivalves. The main remaining gaps in WoRMS are among opisthobranchs (8% missing) and Indo-Pacific marine mollusks (6%). The most diverse molluscan genus in WoRMS is Turbonilla, with more than 1,000 species listed as accepted.

Antarctic Porifera database from the Spanish benthic expeditions.

The information about the sponges in this dataset is derived from the samples collected during five Spanish Antarctic expeditions: Bentart 94, Bentart 95, Gebrap 96, Ciemar 99/00 and Bentart 2003. Samples were collected in the Antarctic Peninsula and Bellingshausen Sea at depths ranging from 4 to 2044 m using various sampling gears.The Antarctic Porifera database from the Spanish benthic expeditions is unique as it provides information for an under-explored region of the Southern Ocean (Bellingshausen Sea). It fills an information gap on Antarctic deep-sea sponges, for which there were previously very few data.This phylum is an important part of the Antarctic biota and plays a key role in the structure of the Antarctic marine benthic community due to its considerable diversity and predominance in different areas. It is often a dominant component of Southern Ocean benthic communities.The quality of the data was controlled very thoroughly with GPS systems onboard the R/V Hesperides and by checking the data against the World Porifera Database (which is part of the World Register of Marine Species, WoRMS). The data are therefore fit for completing checklists, inclusion in biodiversity pattern analysis and niche modelling. The authors can be contacted if any additional information is needed before carrying out detailed biodiversity or biogeographic studies.The dataset currently contains 767 occurrence data items that have been checked for systematic reliability. This database is not yet complete and the collection is growing. Specimens are stored in the author’s collection at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) in the city of Gijón (Spain). The data are available in GBIF.

As in other taxa, relatively fewer beetles are being described by an increasing number of authors: response to Löbl and Leschen

As in other taxa, relatively fewer beetles are being described by an increasing number of authors: response to <scp>L</scp>öbl and <scp>L</scp>eschen

A Taxonomic Service for Species Identification

Taxonomy is the science of discovering, classifying and categorizing organisms into groups. Names are given to species when they are recognized for ecology, potential hazards or just for human culture and admiration. However, current problems such as the high diversity of species, the hundreds of publications in which species are described and the lack of a single authoritative world register routine for the definition of the taxa cause frequent confusion in the taxonomy identification. In this paper, we propose a method to automatically extract, integrate and represent species taxonomy information from the main relevant biodiversity catalogues for its comparison and studio. Consequently, the time for information analysis is reduced and taxonomic nomenclature errors are avoided, which are essential for some biology areas of knowledge.

A review of marine biodiversity information resources

Although biodiversity of marine remains high, it increasingly suffers from human interference and destruction. The world’s largest open, online, georeferenced database is the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS); it has information on a total of 120,000 species with 37 million records. The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) has collected taxonomic information on 220,000 global marine species. Besides these two large databases, three single-taxa databases were established for marine organisms—FishBase, AlgaeBase, and Hexacorallians of the World. Many databases on organisms are cross-taxa and include both terrestrial and marine species, such as Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), CoL (Species 2000) , Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), Wikispecies, ETI Bioinformatics, Barcode of Life (BOL), GenBank, Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), SeaLifeBase, Marine Species Identification Portal, and FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Fact Sheets. Above databases were mainly established to focus on taxonomy and species descriptions. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Discover Life, AquaMaps, etc. can provide integrated ecological distribution data, user customized maps, and data for download. By chang254 生 物 多 样 性 Biodiversity Science 第 22卷 ing the values of environmental factors such as water temperature and salinity in an established distribution model, the distribution of a species can be predicted with different parameters. Websites of other organizations, such as Google Earth Ocean, National Geographic, and NGOs such as ReefBase, aim to raise public awareness on ocean conservation with rich and diversified content. Google Images and Google Scholar are very useful in cooperating with keywords provided by marine biodiversity websites to complement the lack of images or references. Most of the above websites are linked to each other, and thus users can access and query data conveniently. To be useful for conservation, biodiversity databases need both to promote public usage in addition to the integration and sharing of data. In this article, we build on a speech by Rainer Froese in Paris to demonstrate how to use marine biodiversity data to conduct research on the impact of climate change on fish distribution. Finally, we also briefly introduce the status of marine biodiversity databases in Mainland China and Taiwan, including the Cross-Strait collaboration, as well as recommendations for how to link to global databases.

The Heritage of Australian Children’s Play and Oral Tradition

oral traditions of children are rich and varied, and encompass the songs, chants, rhymes, stories, riddles, insults, and lore of the playground. In Australia, though the collection of children’s folklore dates from the nineteenth century, it was not until the 1950s that this field of inquiry attracted serious scholarly attention. Since then, there has been an increasingly vigorous interest in the collection and electronic recording of Australian children’s verbal and performative play culture by academics, folklorists, and major collecting institutions (Davey 2011; Factor 2011; Darian-Smith 2012). Between 2007 and 2011, the Childhood, Tradition and Change research project conducted the largest nation-wide study of children’s games and playground culture to date, resulting in a substantial archive of visual, oral, and written data. A significant amount of this research data is available on an open-access website (http:// ctac.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/index.html), where it has much to offer with respect to scholarly and community interest in exploring the dynamic heritage of Australian children’s play. The Childhood, Tradition and Change project was funded by the Australian Research Council and led by a team of academic researchers in collaboration with two internationally acclaimed public repositories of Australian children’s folklore. 1 The National Library of Australia’s Oral History and Folklore Collection (http://www.nla.gov.au/fishtrout/ aus_children.html) has an extensive collection of oral recordings—undertaken mainly with adults—documenting the chants, rhymes, and games of childhood, and providing information about play stretching back to the early twentieth century. The Australian Children’s Folklore Collection at Museum Victoria (http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/ australian-childrens-folklore-collection/) has over 10,000 documents, recordings, and artifacts relating to children’s play and oral traditions, and its significance has been recognized through its listing on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. The visual, textual, and aural documentation, as well as some 3D objects gathered from across Australia for the Childhood, Tradition and Change research project have been deposited in the separate collections of the National Library of Australia and Museum Victoria, where they supplement existing holdings on children’s culture. This material includes descriptions of nearly

&lt;span lang="EN-US"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Phylum Bryozoa Ehrenberg, 1831. &lt;em&gt;In&lt;/em&gt;: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013) &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;

This paper is an invited contribution to the Zootaxa series ‘Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness.’ (Zhang 2011). This series pertains to living biodiversity and the species numbers given here are more or less derived from the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), for which the two authors of this paper are listed as editors (PEB hands-on editor; DPG advisory editor). Thus circumscribed, Bryozoa includes 3 classes, 4 orders, 187 families, 808 genera and 5869 species [Phylactolaemata 86 species, Stenolaemata 543 species, Gymnolaemata 5240 species (Ctenostomata 319 species, Cheilostomata 4921 species)]. Although all Phylactolaemata and several species of Ctenostomata are freshwater organisms, the full list of bryozoan species is accessible on WoRMS. The WoRMS list must be understood to be provisional, owing to the need for taxonomic revisions of many genera. Nevertheless, even if not all species in the list are accurately attributed to genera, the names represent operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that are indicative of living species diversity as known to date.

A review of the helminth parasites using polychaetes as hosts

An updated review of the helminth parasites using polychaetes as hosts is provided. Fifteen relevant search terms were entered into the Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science online database in order to locate papers published since the last review, and subsequent supplementary article, given by Margolis (J Fish Res Board Can 28:1385-1392, 1971, J Fish Res Board Can 30:469-470, 1973), entitled "Polychaetes as intermediate hosts of helminth parasites of vertebrates: a review" and "Additional notes on polychaetes as intermediate hosts of helminth parasites of vertebrates," respectively. The World Register of Marine Species was used to provide the most current scientific names for both helminth parasites and their respective polychaete hosts. A total of 35 new reports were found. Across the taxa examined, digenetic trematodes appear to be the most prominent of the helminth parasites utilizing polychaete annelids as hosts. Nematodes are the second most common helminth grouping--followed by cestodes--using polychaetes as hosts. An incidence of possible parasitism by a turbellarian using a polychaete as a host is also reported.