PALEOBIOLOGY DATABASE: A COMMUNITY BASED DATA SERVICE FOR PALEOBIOLOGY

Paleobiology Database (PaleobioDB, paleobiodb.org) is an open resource of paleontological data on all types of fossil organisms through all time periods and has a global scope. Data types include bibliographic references; taxonomic names, taxonomic opinions and classifications; primary fossil collection data; taxonomic occurrences; re-identifications of occurrences; and geologic time scales all stored in a relational database. Published accounts are the primary source of data but data from legacy databases has also been incorporated and unpublished data can be contributed as well. These unpublished data can be embargoed for a period of time while researched is completed, and will subsequently be released to the public automatically. PaleobioDB currently contains over 1.15 million occurrences of over 278,000 fossil taxa and is expanding every day as over 350 researchers from around the world contribute data. These data have been used for studies of paleobiodiversity, paleogeography, macroevolution, history of science, and many others. Hundreds of studies have been published that use data derived from the Palebiology Database. PaleobioDB recently launched the new Navigator interface that plots fossil collections on interactive maps of the paleogeography of the planet using paleo plate position data drawn from the GPlates data service. PaleobioDB also recently released a new API data service that allows other cyberinfrastructure resources to automatically query the database and use the data in for their own purposes. Individual users can also use the data service to query the database to run any kind of analysis that they can conceptualize. PaleobioDB is planning to incorporate specimen level occurrence data soon, and is also working on a clearinghouse for lesson plans that use PaleobioDB data and visualization tools. PaleobioDB strives to be a comprehensive resource on macrofossil data for deep time, and an open platform for storing these data and sharing them with other paleontological colleagues, the greater scientific community, and the general public.