The next stage of biodiversity informatics: community-driven synthesis and integration of biodiversity databases

Developing a predictive science of the biosphere depends heavily on the rapidly expanding biodiversity data that are commonly stored in biodiversity databases. Despite the proliferation of biodiversity databases, their independent operation has limited data discovery, comparison, and synthesis. Therefore, the biodiversity informatics community has called for improved alignment among these efforts to better catalog Earth's biodiversity. The primary challenges are incomplete knowledge of existing databases and incongruent taxonomic systems and data schemas. Addressing these issues will require development of a database registry, means to compare database contents, taxonomic harmonization, and tools that enable users to merge disparate databases based on their needs, all within a community of practice that enables people of various skill levels and roles to participate. We believe that synthesis and integration, driven by a growing and thriving community, will be the next stage of biodiversity informatics and will help unlock the full potential of biodiversity information.