Biodiversity Data Journal :
Software Description
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Corresponding author: Miloš Popović (mpopovic@pmf.ni.ac.rs)
Academic editor: Ross Mounce
Received: 07 Apr 2020 | Accepted: 01 Jun 2020 | Published: 11 Jun 2020
© 2020 Miloš Popović, Nikola Vasić, Toni Koren, Ivona Burić, Nenad Živanović, Dejan Kulijer, Ana Golubović
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Popović M, Vasić N, Koren T, Burić I, Živanović N, Kulijer D, Golubović A (2020) Biologer: an open platform for collecting biodiversity data. Biodiversity Data Journal 8: e53014. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.8.e53014
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We have developed a new platform named "Biologer" intended for recording species observations in the field (but also from literature resources and collections). The platform is created as user-friendly, open source, multilingual software that is compatible with Darwin Core standard and accompanied by a simple Android application. It is made from the user’s perspective, allowing everyone to choose how they share the data. Project team members are delegated by involved organisations. The team is responsible for development of the platform, while local Biologer communities are engaged in data collection and verification.
Biologer has been online and available for use in Serbia since 2018 and was soon adopted in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In total, we have assembled 536 users, who have collected 163,843 species observation records data from the field and digitalised 33,458 literature records. The number of active users and their records is growing daily. Out of the total number of gathered data, 89% has been made open access by the users, 10% is accessible on the scale of 10×10 km and only 1% is closed. In the future, we plan to provide a taxonomic data portal that could be used by local and national initiatives in Eastern Europe, aggregate all data into a single web location, create detailed data overview and enable fluent communication between users.
Eastern Europe, Balkan Peninsula, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Darwin Core, species observations, database
The study of biological diversity is one of the fields which vastly benefited from the development of modern computers and software tools (
In Serbia, the first tools for collecting observation data were created for insects (Alciphron software,
Having experienced common problems with existing database solutions and exploring the ways to deal with them (
Biologer
The Biologer title is derived from our local languages by joining words "biologija" (biology) and "loger" (logger). It follows a simple and user-friendly design, with logo and icons clearly associating with biological species and geographic information system (Fig.
The concept of Biologer platform organisation. Server is in charge of gathering data from the web interface (field observations, scientific literature or collections) or through API endpoint, accessed by a smart phone device running Android (field observations only). The collected data are moderated by Biologer community (users, editors and administrators) and displayed online as simple biodiversity encyclopaedia.
Rather than being owned by an individual or organisation, we chose to create a Project team responsible for further development of Biologer. A growing community of scientific and civil society organisations is participating in the development by nominating people for the Project team and providing fundings and other resources. Initial development of Biologer was supported by the Rufford Small Grants (projects No: 20507-B and 24652-B). Additional support to implement a database solution in Croatia was received from the MAVA foundation. The work of MP and AG is partially supported through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (projects No: 173025, 173043, 451-03-68/2020-14/200124 and 451-03-68/2020-14/200178). A significant part of the work is done on a voluntary basis through engagement of the Biologer community.
The online software is the main part of Biologer (Fig.
An important step in publishing biodiversity data is the review process (
Data access is principally controlled by the users’ settings defining separate licences for images and observations, but we strongly suggest choosing open data for its greater applicability in both science and nature conservation (
Finally, Biologer offers a simple data browser from its main page (Fig.
Future perspectives
With the growing support from several local communities, one of our prime goals is to make the taxonomic database a separate component of the platform. The taxonomic database will provide a list of synonyms, country specific checklists, conservation and legal status for each country involved, local species names and descriptions, as well as an endpoint for communication with other components of Biologer. After completion of this task, we will be able to provide a single multilingual encyclopaedia on regional species diversity along with a content aggregation of open access data from all officially-involved Biologer communities on a single data server. Aggregated observations will be free to download or redistribute to global biodiversity databases according to the licences chosen by the users. We plan to enhance user experience by showing usage statistics, providing more detailed data overview and facilitating direct communication amongst users. Biologer could also support adding different types of data, such as species counts along transects or within delineated areas (polygons).
Biologer has been collecting observation data from Serbia since 2018 at biologer.org. Croatia joined our initiative registering at biologer.hr in 2019, while in 2020 Bosnia and Herzegovina started their data portal at biologer.ba. Currently, each country maintains its own server for data collecting and has its own community of users, while the Biologer application for Android devices allows choosing the prefered community. At the time of writing this manuscript, we have gathered 536 users (64% from Serbia, 25% from Croatia and 11% from Bosnia and Herzegovina) and collected 163,843 records from the field (Serbia 71%, Croatia 27%, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2%). Additionally, the Serbian data portal imported 33,458 digitalised literature records. It is interesting to note that users predominantly choose open data licences for their observation records. Most of the records (89%) are delivered under open access licences, 10% of data is accessible on the scale of 10×10 km, while only 1% of data is closed. Being issued under the MIT licence, Biologer software is available to the public and any organisation or individual could run it on a dedicated server and modify it for their own needs. A good example for this is the "Biologer Otis" application adapted for monitoring the great bustard (Otis tarda) population in Serbia. Our Project team will work on acquiring more developers and volunteers and establishing other local Biologer communities within the region.
MP and AG prepared the initial version of the manuscript, followed by significant contribution from other authors. NŽ, MP and NV developed the software solution. All authors were involved in implementation of the software and its overall design.