Name: The Paleobiology Database
Home page URL:
http://paleodb.org/
Purpose: To provide the public and the paleontological research community with collection-level information on the spatial, temporal, and environmental distribution of fossils, as well as images and taxonomic accounts of fossils and web-based scripts for analyzing large-scale patterns in these data. In the future, phylogenetic and morphometric data also will be collected and provided freely on the web. Any professional paleontologist may volunteer to become a contributor to the database. See also our
FAQ page.
Scope: The global Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic fossil record of marine and terrestrial animal and plant life.
Intended audience: Everyone, and especially professional paleontologists.
Platform/software: Housed in a MySQL database on an Apple Xserve dual-processor, four-hard drive server. Software development is performed on a Dell PowerEdge 1300 dual-processor server.
Data model: The database currently includes seven major, interconnected tables:
- References.
- Collections (including geographic, stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, taphonomic, and collecting method data). Keyed to references.
- Occurrences (i.e., instances of taxa occuring within collections, plus abundances). Keyed to references and collections.
- Reidentifications (i.e., taxonomic changes to previously published occurrences). Keyed to references and occurrences.
- Taxonomic authorities (i.e., who named what when). Keyed to references.
- Taxonomic opinions (i.e., who classified what within what, or synonymized what with what, when). Keyed to references and authorities.
- Images (i.e., an index of binary image files representing fossils). Keyed to authorities.
We are currently implementing tables that will record phylogeny, morphometrics, and taphonomic and paleoecologic data regarding individual taxa, occurrences, and specimens.
Terminology conventions for data entry: Please see our
tip sheets.
Output query system: Analysis and query of data sets is performed using custom CGI scripts written in Perl, Javascript, and C++ that employ standard SQL syntax.
Available user support: The database employs a full-time database manager who is responsible for technical support.
We maintain extensive
tip sheets that show how to enter data using our web-based data entry forms.
Date of establishment: August, 1998 (Phanerozoic Marine Paleofaunal Database); September, 2000 (current database, including the PMPD).
Location: The database server and main office are housed at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, a unit of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Institutional and financial support: Supported by a Biocomplexity grant from NSF from September, 2000 through August, 2005.
Long-term maintenance plans: The database will continue to be housed and maintained at NCEAS through the duration of the grant.
It is intended to become a permanent resource for the community.
Contact:
John Alroy (alroy@nceas.ucsb.edu: project coordinator).
