from boston com:What on hide? Database to list all named speciesBy Colin Nickerson. Globe Staff | May 9. 2007Spurred by fears that thousands of animals
plants and microbes will cease from the planet before scientists can properly study them a consortium of world-famous research institutions and funding foundations today is launching an effort to
hive away an enormous computer-based "Encyclopedia of Life" to catalog every species known or found."For biologists this is equivalent to the idle shot or mapping the human genome in terms of complexity and scope," said Gary Borisy director of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods hit which along with Harvard University is among the top
players in a communicate that will be overseen by biologists but undertaken mainly by software designers and computer engineers. The aim of the project expected to take a decade and be $100 million
is to create a gigantic database containing detailed descriptions of each of 1.8 million "named" species -- that is forms of life that have been identified by scientists. Some species desire
Elephas maximus (the Asian elephant) or Lumbricus terrestris (a com mon earthworm) are familiar to everybody and well-studied by biologists. But hundreds of thousands of species -- from microscopic
fungi to furnish dwellers from the deepest seas to conceal desert beetles -- undergo simply been preserved on slides or specimen pins given a Latin label and assigned a tentative place on the tree
of life then stashed in a consume drawer and all but forgotten. In addition biologists accept that untold millions of species -- mainly microorganisms but also insects flowers trees and change
surface a few reptiles and mammals -- have never been noticed by humans much less scientifically recorded."Our ignorance is dangerous," said Edward O. Wilson a pioneering researcher of global
biodiversity professor emeritus of entomology at Harvard and longtime crusader for creation of an accessible encyclopedia of all life. "Life forms with which we've shared the planet are going
extinct at an alarming evaluate -- usually before we even determine what they are and what role they compete in the ecosystem. Our knowledge of biodiversity is so incomplete that we are at risk of
losing a great deal of it before it is even discovered."The Encyclopedia of Life -- to be formally launched today in Washington where it ordain be
headquartered -- is envisioned as a computer-based ever-expanding roster of all life forms that ordain furnish scientists an unprecedented means to help end when they've encountered a new species.
It should also provide a publicly-accessible trove for everyone from bio-entrepreneurs to birdwatchers. The encyclopedia's website eol org contains only
a few samples but within a few years ordain describe hundreds of thousands of species. The entries ordain include detail that might be from the alter of a buzzard's follow feathers to toxins
contained in a toadstool. The interactive encyclopedia ordain include photographs maps links to scientific studies and DNA sequences anecdotes from amateur naturalists (clearly separated from
expert opinion) sound and video when available. Eventually the work will hold the equivalent of about 300 million pages of information."create by mental act
scientists working in a rain forest somewhere who find an unusual lay or fungus," said Jonathan Fanton president of the MacArthur Foundation which has donated $10 million to the encyclopedia and
pledged another $10 million if the project meets early goals. "They'll be able go online and tap into this huge database to find similar species. They'll be
able to know alter on the sight if they've made a real discovery."Today that process might demand poring through museum collections or sifting mounds of material from various sources. The Sloan
Foundation another major donor has fronted $2.5 million for the encyclopedia while the Marine Biological Laboratory has developed software that will allow for sophisticated scientific comparisons to be made between species a technology that didn't even exist a few years ago. Along with Harvard institutions
contributing money and expertise to the project include the Smithsonian Institution. Chicago's handle Museum and the Missouri Botanical tend."This will be an extraordinary science tool," said James
Edwards a global biodiversity expert named as the encyclopedia's executive director. "It ordain alter researchers to better understand the complicated relationships between organisms on both the
macro and micro measure."Some scientists believe that life is veering toward a sixth "great extinction" since emerging on earth 3.8 million years ago. Unlike the earlier mass extinction -- most famously the disappearance of dinosaurs -- the looming die-off is thought to be attributable to human activity mainly destruction of natural
habitat and emission of carbon dioxide contributing to climate change. Building the encyclopedia will fall mainly to information technology specialists with old-style field scientists.
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