Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Integration Network

 / Research / In-House /CMR/ Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Integration NetworK

The Project

A number of bio-resource databases have been developed by various agencies across the world. Some are regional databases, some are on broad classes of habitats, while some are for specific taxa. It is envisaged to undertake a systematic study to address the core issues viz., lack of unified national architecture for collection and maintenance of marine biodiversity data; lack of comprehensive database covering biological, geo-spatial and molecular/genetic information and online tools for character-based field identification. The project intended to collate the biodiversity data scattered across the institutions and develop an interactive platform keeping in view of the needs of the current and future uses of the database. Ultimate focus of this database was to integrate various datasets stored in a multiple or independent database, electronic resources, literatures, species catalogues, text books etc., for querying, analysing, modelling and visualizing to ensure the website easy handling and more interactive for the end users. CoMBINe database at present is with a specific server processor, and software specifications for data compatibility, new website layout, internal crawler for keyword searching, easy filtering functionality, and with less complex website design.

Aim

The aim of the study was to prepare a digital database on marine & coastal biodiversity of India with a framework for integrating existing information across institutions/agencies an a single platform.

Objectives

  • Development of an architecture for CoMBINe with a knowledge-base on the coastal and marine bio-resources of India

  • Field Identification Protocol integrated into CoMBINe web portal for online identification of bio-resources

  • An online species repository and Molecular Taxonomy Database by adding Molecular data

Key Findings

  • The database currently holds 10963 species of coastal and marine flora and fauna

  • Species factsheets developed for 2800 species

  • CoMBINe Unique Identifier allows query for 211 Characters and 194 attributes based on morphological characteristics

  • Development of a mobile portal for easy access by end users using hand held devices

  • Database currently holds 13,500 images and 3,800 common names which includes more than 200 images of species collected as part of CoMBINe primary field surveys

  • DNA barcode for 60 species of fishes and molluscs with commercial and conservation significance have been successfully completed

  • Two scheduled species (Tudicla spirillus and Cassis cornuta) have been registered first-time into the NCBI database at the global level.

Diagram depicting the Scope of Darwin Core

System Landscape of CoMBINe

 

General workflow of DNA barcoding

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