The Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life
The Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life is planned to become a comprehensive catalogue of all known species of organisms on Earth. Rapid progress has been made recently and this, the tenth edition of the Annual Checklist, contains 1,257,735 species. Please note that this is probably just about 2/3 of the world's known species. This means that for many groups it continues to be deficient, and users will notice that many species are still missing from the Catalogue.
The present Catalogue is compiled with sectors provided by 77 taxonomic databases from around the world. Many of these contain taxonomic data and opinions from extensive networks of specialists, so that the complete work contains contributions from more than 3,000 specialists from throughout the taxonomic profession. Species 2000 and ITIS teams peer review databases, select appropriate sectors and integrate the sectors into a single coherent catalogue with a single hierarchical classification. It is planned to introduce alternative taxonomic treatments and alternative classifications, but an important feature is that for those users who wish to use it, a single preferred catalogue, based on peer reviews, will continue to be provided.
The Catalogue is published as two products:
• Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life:
2010 Annual Checklist
The Annual Checklist is published each year as a fixed edition that can
be cited and used as a common catalogue for comparative purposes by many
organisations. A copy is on the DVD, which is distributed free of
charge, and an identical copy is on the website at
http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2010. Archived earlier
editions are also available on the website. This is the preferred
edition for public usage during 2010-2011.
• Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: Dynamic
Checklist
The Dynamic Checklist is a virtual catalogue operated on the Internet
and available both for users and as an electronic web-service at
http://www.catalogueoflife.org/dynamic-checklist. The Dynamic
Checklist harvests taxonomic sectors and associated strands of
hierarchical classification dynamically from the source databases across
the internet. The Dynamic Checklist is presently less extensive than the
Annual Checklist because fewer taxonomic sectors have been connected so
far.
It differs in concept from the Annual Checklist in that
(i) the taxonomic records may be updated and the catalogue changed more
frequently than in the Annual Checklist and (ii) the Dynamic Checklist
contains additional regional species checklists (such as the Regional
Checklist - Europe, effectively a Pan-European Species Checklist) not
included in the Annual Checklist. Regional Checklists for N America,
China, Australia and New Zealand are in preparation for linkage in the future
as part of the Catalogue of Life Regional Hub Network.
The Catalogue of Life partnership
In June 2001 the Species 2000 and ITIS organisations, that had previously worked separately, decided to work together to create the Catalogue of Life, now estimated at 1.9 million species (Chapman, 2009). The two organisations remain separate and different in structure. However, by working together in creating a common product, the partnership has enabled them to reduce duplication of effort, make better use of resources, and to accelerate production. The combined Annual Checklist has become well established as a cited reference used for data compilation and comparison. For instance, it is used as the principal taxonomic index in the GBIF and EoL data portals and recognised by the CBD.
About ITIS
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is a partnership of federal
agencies and other organisations from the United States, Canada, and Mexico,
with data stewards and experts from around the world (see http://www.itis.gov).
The ITIS database is an automated reference of scientific and common names of
biota of interest to North America . It contains more than 596,000 scientific
and common names in all kingdoms, and is accessible via the World Wide Web
in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese (http://itis.gbif.net).
ITIS is part of the US National Biological Information Infrastructure
(http://www.nbii.gov) and an
associate member of GBIF
ITIS is managed by Gerald Guala (Director), Thomas Orrell (Deputy Director), Michael Ruggiero (Senior Scientific Advisor), David Nicolson (Data Development Leader), Mike Frame (Information Technology Leader), Roy McDiarmid (Taxonomy Leader), Guy Baillargeon (ITIS-Canada Director), and Patricia Koleff (SIIT-Mexico Director). They are advised and supported by the ITIS Steering Committee and ITIS Data Stewards.
About Species 2000
Species 2000 (http://www.sp2000.org)
is an autonomous federation of taxonomic database custodians, involving
taxonomists throughout the world. Its goal is to collate a uniform and
validated index to the world's known species. It is a not-for-profit
company limited by guarantee (registered in England No. 3479405) with
six directors and taxonomic database organisations from around the world
as members. It is sponsored by CODATA, IUBS and IUMS; is an associate
participant in GBIF; and is recognised by UNEP and the CBD. The
Phase II Programme is establishing a number of regional/national hubs of
which the European Hub, the Species 2000 China Node
(http://www.sp2000.cn), the
Brazilian Hub (El Catalogo da Vida Brazil) and the N America Hub are the
first to appear.
The Species 2000 scientific programme is led by its Team: Guy Baillargeon (Canada), Frank Bisby (UK), Thierry Bourgoin (France), Jerry Cooper (New Zealand), Dennis Gordon (New Zealand), Keping Ma (China), Luciane Marinoni (Brazil), Michael A Ruggiero (USA), Nicolas Bailly (Philippines), Edward Vanden Berghe (Belgium), Richard J White (UK), Karen L Wilson (Australia), with further assistance from the Regional Hubs.