The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Database for Mindanao's Terrestrial Biodiversity

Krizler Tanalgo1, Krizler Tanalgo2

1 Ecology and Conservation Research Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, University of Southern Mindanao, 2nd Floor S&T Building, University of Southern Mindanao, 9407, Kabacan, Philippines; 2 Ecology and Conservation Research Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, University of Southern Mindanao, 2nd floor S&T building, University of Southern Mindanao, 9407, Kabacan, Philippines

Corresponding author(s): Krizler Tanalgo (tkrizler@gmail.com)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Tanalgo K (2023): The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Database for Mindanao's Terrestrial Biodiversity. v1.8. Biodiversity Data Journal. Dataset/Occurrence. https://ipt.pensoft.net/resource?r=mobios_data&v=1.8

Abstract

The MOBIOS+ project has an overarching goal of establishing a biodiversity database for Mindanao following the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles to advance studies in biodiversity and develop a synthesis to identify current and future conservation priorities in the region. Furthermore, the MOBIOS+ database aims to mainstream rich and important biodiversity in Mindanao. This is through making occurrence records of species from studies from various institutions in Mindanao centralised in an accessible platform. To do this, we collated biodiversity records from published studies and organized them in a standard format, machine readable, and digitally available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) platform. This project aims to continuously update the species database, complementing on-ground biodiversity efforts in Mindanao. The database is housed at the Biodiversity Synthesis Centre of the Eco/Con Lab at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mindanao.

Keywords: Occurrence, vertebrates, invertebrates, Arachnida, Insecta, Malacostraca, Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Actinopterygii, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, Mammalia, Philippines, Mindanao, Observation

Project details

Project title: The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Database for Mindanao's Terrestrial Biodiversity
Personnel: Krizler Tanalgo, Kier Dela Cruz, Jeaneth Magelen Respicio
Funding: The Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library (BiCIKL) project, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action under grant agreement No 101007492, has supported the publication of this work.
Study area descriptions/descriptor: The database contains data for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in the entire faunal region of Mindanao, south of the Philippines. 

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.pensoft.net/resource?r=mobios_data

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: The 12,814 georeferenced species occurrence is comprised of 1,926 species from 10 taxonomic classes.  Invertebrates are represented by Gastropoda (27 spp., 1%), Bivalvia (4 spp., 0.20%), Arachnida (149 spp., 8%), Malacostraca (43 spp., 2%), and Insecta (866 spp., 45%). Whilst, the vertebrates are represented by Actinopterygii (176 spp., 9%), Amphibia (65 spp., 3%), Reptilia (135 spp., 7%), Aves (382 spp., 20%) and Mammalia (78 spp., 4%).
Taxonomic ranks
Class: Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Arachnida, Malacostraca, Insecta, Actinopterygii, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, Mammalia
Common names: Gastropods, Bivalves, Arachnids, Crabs, Insects, Bony fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Mindanao faunal region, south of the Philippines
Coordinates: 90°0'0''S and 90°0'0''N Latitude; 180°0'0''W and 180°0'0''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: January 1, 2000 - December 31, 2022

Methods

Method step description: 1. Collating and filtering published biodiversity studies from the Mindanao faunal region. 
2. Reviewing of the studies for suitability based on criteria.
3. Extracting species occurrence data and other relevant metadata from biodiversity studies in Mindanao faunal region.
4. Placing the species distribution and other metadata in Microsoft Office Excel format.
5. Curating species occurrence in Quantum GIS.
6. Organising of occurrence dataset following Darwin Core Standards.
Study extent description: MOBIOS+ included occurrence records from 2000-2023. The database contains data for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in the entire faunal region of Mindanao, south of the Philippines. 
Sampling description: We applied the PRISMA approach to collect and select biodiversity studies from Mindanao from 2000-2023. We used the combinations of the following keywords: ‘Biodiversity stud*’, ‘Assessment*, ‘Survey’, ‘Terrestrial’, ‘Freshwater’, and ‘Mindanao’ to search for published literature from Google Scholar. We also explore the Biodiversity Literature Repository (BLR) (https://biolitrepo.org/) and the self-archiving ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net/) for additional published studies, particularly on new localities and natural history notes of species. We excluded the thesis and dissertation to standardise our database because most universities and academic institutions do not have online repositories to access their research. We then assigned teams to collect and analyze data from specific taxonomic groups. We sampled each literature for species occurrence from published articles and books using the Darwin Core Biodiversity Standard format (Wieczorek et al., 2012). We extracted information for the species list, taxonomic classification, conservation status, location of the species, and other relevant information. 
Quality control description: We countercurated all listed species and their distribution in the database using the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) database (https://www.itis.gov/). We excluded dubious species, such as those with problematic identification or species that naturally do not occur in the range without proper discussions or expert clarifications. According to the Catalogue of Life, taxonomy names were aligned and standardised (https://www.catalogueoflife.org). We retained the taxonomic classification of species with confusing arrangements. We plotted and mapped all species occurrence within the boundaries of the Mindanao faunal region using QGIS (v. 3.26) (QGIS Development Team, 2022) to curate species occurrence within the range. Biodiversity records outside the range or within unusual locations were counter-checked with the original reference and corrected.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive The MOBIOS+: A FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Database for Mindanao's Terrestrial Biodiversity
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.pensoft.net/archive.do?r=mobios_data
Publication date of data: 2023-10-02
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-05-25
Hierarchy level: Dataset