Highlights for July 11, 1997
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• GPS PLGR Training Provided to NPS: On July 2-3, Karl Brown of CBI provided Global Positioning System PLGR training at Wind Cave National Park to NPS Vegetation Mapping staff, U.S. Forest Service-Black Hills personnel, and Badlands and Jewel Cave NPS staff. (Karl Brown, Denver, 303/202-4240)
  

• BRD National Invertebrate I&M Announced at Yale Lepidopterists' Meeting: On July 8-13, Dr. Paul A. Opler is attending the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society at Yale University. Opler will chair a symposium on conservation and education. He will also give a presentation on Inventory and Monitoring of Butterflies and Moths in which he will announce the new BRD national program for invertebrate inventory and monitoring. In addition, he will meet with a committee on the scientific names of North American butterflies. (Paul Opler, Fort Collins, CO, 970/226-9409)
  

• New NBII Database Online: On July 10, Gary Waggoner and Bruce Powell (both CBI) and Anne Frondorf (OBIO) completed several months of work to design, program, implement and maintain a new database on the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Home Page. The Taxonomic Resources and Expertise Directory (TRED) can be accessed at <http://biology.usgs.gov/nbii/tred>. This database is a directory of taxonomic experts, primarily from North America, covering all biological diversity. It has been developed in partnership with the Association of Systematics Collections. Relying on funding from the NBII, the TRED database supports the NBII and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System <http://www.itis.usda.gov/itis>. Information about taxonomic, geographic, and habitat expertise is provided, as well as contact information for each taxonomist registered in the directory. Additionally, the experts in the database have indicated if they maintain databases on the taxonomic groups for which they are expert. (Gary Waggoner, Denver, 303/202-4222)⁽¹⁾

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

1. The database can be queried either by specialist name or by taxon (biological group). Over 650 taxonomists are currently registered in the Directory, which is expanding as more specialists discover the online database. Taxonomic experts from around the world can register on the Internet/WWW by completing a survey form hosted by the ASC Home Page <http://www.ascoll.org/TRED>. The ASC does the initial quality control on the registration forms, enters the new information into its source database, and then provides periodic updates to the CBI, which actually hosts and maintains the TRED--along with the NBII Home Page--from its server in Denver.



Taxonomic information is fundamental to understanding the Nation's biodiversity. The TRED, coupled with the ITIS database, provide a significant information source about that biodiversity. Because modern taxonomy and nomenclature are dynamic and scientific names and concepts change over time, these databases will eventually provide linkages between numerous previously isolated biological information sources and will also allow users to link contemporary literature with historic information sources. TRED and the ITIS database are key elements of the NBII.