Darwin Core
Encyclopedia
Darwin Core is a body of data standards which function as an extension of Dublin Core
for biodiversity informatics
applications, establishing a vocabulary of terms to facilitate the discovery, retrieval, and integration of information about organisms, their spatiotemporal occurrence, and supporting evidence housed in biological collections. It is meant to provide a stable standard reference for sharing information on biological diversity.
By providing a well-defined standard core vocabulary, Darwin Core aims to facilitate data sharing in biodiversity
research by minimizing the barriers to adoption and maximizing reusability. The terms described in this standard are a part of a larger set of vocabularies and technical specifications under development and maintained by Biodiversity Information Standards (formerly known as the Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG)).
, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, and samples, and related information. Included in the standard are documents describing how these terms are managed, how the set of terms can be extended for new purposes, and how the terms can be used. The Simple Darwin Core is a specification for one particular way to use the terms - to share data about taxa and their occurrences in a simply structured way - and is probably what is meant if someone suggests to "format your data according to the Darwin Core".
Each term has a definition and commentaries that are meant to promote the consistent use of the terms across applications and disciplines. Evolving commentaries that discuss, refine, expand, or translate the definitions and examples are referred to through links in the Comments attribute of each term. This means of documentation allows the standard to adapt to new purposes without disrupting existing applications. There is meant to be a clear separation between the terms defined in this standard and the applications that make use of them. For example, though the data types and constraints are not provided in the term definitions, recommendations are made about how to restrict the values where appropriate.
In practice, Darwin Core decouples the definition and semantics of individual terms from application of these terms in different technologies such as XML
, RDF
or simple CSV
text files. Darwin Core provides separate guidelines on how to encode the terms as XML or text files.
profile by the Z39.50 Biology Implementers Group (ZBIG), supported by funding from a USA National Science Foundation award. The name "Darwin Core" was first coined by Allen Allison at the first meeting of the ZBIG held at the University of Kansas in 1998 while commenting on the profile's conceptual similarity with Dublin Core. The Darwin Core profile was later expressed as an XML Schema document for use by the Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR) protocol. A TDWG task group was created to revise the Darwin Core, and a ratified metadata standard was officially released on 9 October 2009.
Though ratified as a TDWG/Biodiversity Information Standards standard since then, Darwin Core has had numerous previous versions in production usage. The published standard contains a history with details of the versions leading to the current standard.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...
for biodiversity informatics
Biodiversity Informatics
Biodiversity Informatics is the application of informatics techniques to biodiversity information for improved management, presentation, discovery, exploration and analysis...
applications, establishing a vocabulary of terms to facilitate the discovery, retrieval, and integration of information about organisms, their spatiotemporal occurrence, and supporting evidence housed in biological collections. It is meant to provide a stable standard reference for sharing information on biological diversity.
By providing a well-defined standard core vocabulary, Darwin Core aims to facilitate data sharing in biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
research by minimizing the barriers to adoption and maximizing reusability. The terms described in this standard are a part of a larger set of vocabularies and technical specifications under development and maintained by Biodiversity Information Standards (formerly known as the Taxonomic Databases Working Group (TDWG)).
Contents
The Darwin Core is body of standards. It includes a glossary of terms (in other contexts these might be called properties, elements, fields, columns, attributes, or concepts) intended to facilitate the sharing of information about biological diversity by providing reference definitions, examples, and commentaries. The Darwin Core is primarily based on taxaTaxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
, their occurrence in nature as documented by observations, specimens, and samples, and related information. Included in the standard are documents describing how these terms are managed, how the set of terms can be extended for new purposes, and how the terms can be used. The Simple Darwin Core is a specification for one particular way to use the terms - to share data about taxa and their occurrences in a simply structured way - and is probably what is meant if someone suggests to "format your data according to the Darwin Core".
Each term has a definition and commentaries that are meant to promote the consistent use of the terms across applications and disciplines. Evolving commentaries that discuss, refine, expand, or translate the definitions and examples are referred to through links in the Comments attribute of each term. This means of documentation allows the standard to adapt to new purposes without disrupting existing applications. There is meant to be a clear separation between the terms defined in this standard and the applications that make use of them. For example, though the data types and constraints are not provided in the term definitions, recommendations are made about how to restrict the values where appropriate.
In practice, Darwin Core decouples the definition and semantics of individual terms from application of these terms in different technologies such as XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
or simple CSV
Comma-separated values
A comma-separated values file stores tabular data in plain-text form. As a result, such a file is easily human-readable ....
text files. Darwin Core provides separate guidelines on how to encode the terms as XML or text files.
History
Darwin Core was originally created as a Z39.50Z39.50
Z39.50 is a client–server protocol for searching and retrieving information from remote computer databases. It is covered by ANSI/NISO standard Z39.50, and ISO standard 23950. The standard's maintenance agency is the Library of Congress....
profile by the Z39.50 Biology Implementers Group (ZBIG), supported by funding from a USA National Science Foundation award. The name "Darwin Core" was first coined by Allen Allison at the first meeting of the ZBIG held at the University of Kansas in 1998 while commenting on the profile's conceptual similarity with Dublin Core. The Darwin Core profile was later expressed as an XML Schema document for use by the Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR) protocol. A TDWG task group was created to revise the Darwin Core, and a ratified metadata standard was officially released on 9 October 2009.
Though ratified as a TDWG/Biodiversity Information Standards standard since then, Darwin Core has had numerous previous versions in production usage. The published standard contains a history with details of the versions leading to the current standard.
| Name | Namespace | Number of terms | XML Schema | Date Issued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darwin Core 1.0 | Not Applicable | 24 | (Z39.50 GRS-1) | 1998 |
| Darwin Core 1.2 (Classic) | http://digir.net/schema/conceptual/darwin/2003/1.0 | 46 | http://digir.net/schema/conceptual/darwin/2003/1.0/darwin2.xsd | 2001-09-11 |
| Darwin Core 1.21 (MaNIS/HerpNet/ORNIS/FishNet2) | http://digir.net/schema/conceptual/darwin/2003/1.0 | 63 | http://digir.net/schema/conceptual/darwin/manis/1.21/darwin2.xsd | 2003-03-15 |
| Darwin Core OBIS | http://www.iobis.org/obis | 27 | http://iobis.org/obis/obis.xsd | 2005-07-10 |
| Darwin Core 1.4 (Draft Standard) | http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/dwcore/ | 45 | http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/tdwg_dw_core.xsd | 2005-07-10 |
| Darwin Core Terms (properties) | http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/ | 172 | http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/xsd/tdwg_dwcterms.xsd | 2009-10-09 |
Key Projects Using Darwin Core
- The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA)
- The Global Biodiversity Information FacilityGlobal Biodiversity Information FacilityThe Global Biodiversity Information Facility 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 world; GBIF's information architecture makes these data...
(GBIF) - The Ocean Biogeographic Information SystemOcean Biogeographic Information SystemThe Ocean Biogeographic Information System is a web-based access point to information about the distribution and abundance of living species in the ocean.-History:...
(OBIS) - Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums (OZCAM)
- Mammal Networked Information System (MaNIS)
- Ornithological Information System (ORNIS)
- HerpNet
- FishNet 2
- VertNet
See also
- Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG)
- BiodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
- Biodiversity informaticsBiodiversity InformaticsBiodiversity Informatics is the application of informatics techniques to biodiversity information for improved management, presentation, discovery, exploration and analysis...
- Metadata standardsMetadata standardsMetadata standards are requirements which are intended to establish a common understanding of the meaning or semantics of the data, to ensure correct and proper use and interpretation of the data by its owners and users...