Development of Information Products and Services for Ocean Assessments (DIPS-4-Ocean Assessments)
DIPS develops information products and services based on the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) and the Harmful Algae Event Database (HAEDAT) with the aim to support major global assessments on the state of the marine environment, such as the UN World Ocean Assessment (WOA) and those that are planned as part of the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the IOC-UNESCO Global Harmful Algal Bloom Status Report.
DIPS-4-Ocean runs from 2015-2019 and aims to develop biodiversity indices based on the OBIS to support global assessments on the state of the marine environment, as well as publish an IOC UNESCO Global Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Status Report based a global HAB data set in OBIS, the Harmful Algal Event Data-base (HAE-DAT) and the World Register of Marine Species/HAB (WoRMS/HAB) on the distribution and impact of harmful algae.
Biodiversity baselines and indices
High species diversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem functioning (also called the biological insurance), and therefore is one of the most important indicators on ocean’s health. However, indicators of the state of biodiversity have typically focused on well-studied vertebrate taxa, because these are the species for which we have sufficient data to robustly detect trends. While such indices have proved to be useful scientific and policy tools, they ignore most of Earth’s biodiversity that exists in poorly-studied taxonomic groups. Here we propose to develop methods and tools for obtaining indices on marine biodiversity using the largest open-access database on the diversity, distribution and abundance of all marine life forms, the IOC-UNESCO's Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). Extracting biologically meaningful trends from OBIS is challenging because the data are compiled from multiple, non-comparable surveys with highly uneven sampling effort over time and space. Nonetheless, information on the relative frequency of observations of different species through time can be derived from these databases, which potentially provides an untapped resource for documenting the state of biodiversity. The information resulting from this project will serve major global assessments on the state of the marine environment, such as the UN World Ocean Assessment and those that are planned as part of the recently established Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Contact Ward Appeltans: w.appeltans@unesco.org
A Global Harmful Algal Bloom Status Report
In addition, this project will also provide the framework for the publication of the IOC-UNESCO Global Harmful Algal Bloom Status Report. Given that HAB problems continue to expand, we need to know what is required for efficient management of affected marine ecosystems that simultaneously protects public and ecosystem health, encourages and supports aquaculture development, and contributes to policy decisions on coastal zone issues, such as wastewater disposal, aquaculture development, and dredging. The answers to these practical questions require easy access to a large pool of reliable existing data. So to ensure the publication of the first IOC-UNESCO Global HAB Status Report, we will establish a network image: Lamiot, cyanobacteria (Wikipedia)of data providers, a data flow structure (data compilation; publishing data online), online tools for information products, and an Editorial Team to write the Report.
Contact Henrik Enevoldsen: h.enevoldsen@unesco.org
Website: DIPS-4-Ocean Assessments