SCAR-MarBIN Primary Biodiversity data

In this section of the portal, you can consult, gather and download data on Antarctic marine species. Available information includes Taxonomy (RAMS), Distribution, Pictures and Literature.

The Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS)

The objective of RAMS is to compile and manage an authoritative taxonomic list of species occurring in the Antarctic marine environment, for establishing a standard reference for marine biodiversity research, conservation and sustainable management.

The taxonomic scope of RAMS covers Antarctic species from the three realms of the Southern Ocean: the sea floor (meio-, macro- and megazoobenthos; micro- and macrophytobenthos), the water column (phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton) and the sea-ice.

A series of preliminary species lists of Antarctic marine invertebrates, mostly for macrobenthic groups, were compiled by Andrew Clarke and Nadine Johnston of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), with funding from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and British Antarctic Survey. These lists have been or are being checked and updated by taxonomic experts.

A series of preliminary species lists of Antarctic marine invertebrates, mostly for macrobenthic groups, were compiled by Andrew Clarke and Nadine Johnston of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), with funding from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and British Antarctic Survey. These lists have been or are being checked and updated by taxonomic experts.

RAMS is managed by an Editorial Board comprising an Executive Committee and associate Taxonomic Editors. The RAMS Executive Committee plays an advising role in the development of RAMS and proposes Taxonomic Editors. It links with the SCAR-MarBIN International Steering Committee. To allow RAMS to be as exhaustive and authoritative as possible, the role of the network of Taxonomic Editors is crucial. These Taxonomic Editors are world experts on the taxonomy of their relevant taxa and are in charge of the content and quality control of data for their specific group.

Distribution Information (ANTOBIS)

This section allows you to consult, browse, and download Antarctic marine species distribution data. You can either view the data straight away on a vectorized map, by using the SVG viewer (presently only on PC machines, using Internet Explorer), and/or download the distribution data in a series of formats (tab-delimited text, HTML, XML, KML). We are currently developing a dynamic mapping tool which will be platform- and browser-independent.

Geographic Scope

The geographic scope of RAMS is in priority the Southern Ocean s.s., i.e. the area between the Antarctic Polar Front (or Antarctic Convergence) and the coasts of the continent. Sub-Antarctic species (occurring between the Subtropical Convergence to the north and the Antarctic Polar Front to the south, i.e. in the Magellan region and in the sub-Antarctic Islands region) will be progressively included . See map and detailed information here).

Picture Gallery

A collection of representative pictures of Antarctic species has been gathered from various sources and authors. You can view pictures and the associated metadata. If you use the pictures, please acknowledge the corresponding author as well as SCAR-MarBIN. You have the possibilty to upload your own pictures as a contribution to this feature of the portal.

Literature

This feature will very soon give access to a searchable thematic literature database, focusing on Antarctic marine biodiversity. The database will be built upon a series of references lists, from existing initiatives, such as AntPhipoda, Antarctic Echinoids or NeMys, all from the BIANZO consortium. The first literature database to go online was AntPhipoda (14,000+ records).