Regine Jahn, Wolf-Henning Kusber, Andrea Hahn & Walter G. Berendsohn
Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum
Berlin-Dahlem, FU Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8, D-14191 Berlin, Germany
(r.jahn@bgbm.org; w.h.kusber@bgbm.org)
AlgaTerra is a database, providing information on micro algae (especially diatoms and green algae) on the Internet (www.algaterra.org). The main aim of the AlgaTerra project is clarifying the usage of a name and adding referenced factual data to taxonomic concepts thus making historical knowledge fit for the Internet age and future research.
AlgaTerra is an implementation of the "Berlin Taxonomic Information Model" (http://www.bgbm.org/biodivinf/docs/bgbm-model/) which was supplemented by a module to administer data on nomenclatural types. Illustrated types serve as calibration tool for related taxonomic concepts, which are linked to factual data, such as sequence data, morphology, photographs, movies (available through GBIF), ecology, and occurrence. Photographs and movies of microscopic organisms, especially of living cells, are extremely important for recognition and characterization, and serve as a virtual collection. AlgaTerra is featuring a variety of search functions: factual data are searchable by a molecular sequence (blast search implemented), by clicking on a node on a phylogenetic tree, by morphological features, by geography (TDWG-Gazetteer implemented), or simply by a scientific name.
The pilot phase of AlgaTerra (until 2005) was a joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01 LC 0026), merging collection as well as researched data of five groups (BGBM, Berlin; Lazarus, Ehrenberg Collection, MfN Berlin; Medlin, AWI Institut, Bremerhaven; Friedl, SAG, Göttingen; Reisser, Universität Leipzig).