Software for management of Biodiversity information

[Kevin Painting]

AVAILABILITY OF SOFTWARE FOR MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION
                   - a request for information

From:

*    Luigi Guarino, International Board for Plant Genetic Resources,
     (IBPGR), Office for Sub-Saharan Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
*    Hannah Jaenicke, International Center for Research in Agro-
     Forestry (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya
*    Kevin Painting, Base de Dados Tropical, Campinas, Brazil
*    Edward Vanden Berghe, Biodiversity Centre, National Museums of
     Kenya, Nairobi

In view of the increasing number of projects which are being set up to
catalogue and elucidate the world's biodiversity and the different ways
in which the information is handled and disseminated, we feel it is
timely to compile a list of readily-available software which is currently
used (or has potential application) for the management of biodiversity
information.

For the purposes of this survey, we would welcome receiving information
about readily-available, tailor-made software which has been developed
for the management of information which is (a) SPECIMEN based eg. genetic
resources collections, museum/herbarium collections etc.; and (b) TAXON
based eg. checklist managers etc. In this context, software developed for
plant, animal or microbial collections are all relevant.

If you or your colleagues have developed such software which is available
to third parties, we would be most grateful if you could send us details
(see below). Alternatively, if you know of any relevant people or groups
we should contact in compiling this list we would be most grateful if you
could send us their details (with an email address, if available).

We would also be interested in hearing of institutions constructing
databases of biodiversity databases. For instance, we already have
information on IOPI's database of floristic databases, CIKARD's projected
database of indigenous knowledge databases, GRID's meta-database of
environmental datasets and the IUCN/WCMC project "Availability of
biodiversity information for East Africa". Any information about other
initiatives would be gratefully received.

The collated responses from this survey will initially be posted on this
listserver and later prepared for publication to ensure a wide
distribution.

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to hearing from you
soon.

Yours Sincerely,


Luigi Guarino
Hannah Jaenicke
Kevin Painting
Edward Vanden Berghe                      Wednesday, 21 July 1993

AVAILABILITY OF SOFTWARE FOR MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION
                      - information sought

We are interested in receiving information about software developed for
the management of biodiversity information. The software should be
SPECIMEN based (eg. genetic resources collections, museum/herbarium
collections etc.) and/or TAXON based and be readily available to third
parties. Software developed for plant, animal or microbial collections
are relevant here.

Please supply information in the following categories, insofar as
possible:


Name of software
Version (as appropriate)
Version date
Name of developer(s)
Hardware required
Software required
Operating system used

Emphasis of software (specimen, taxon, both)
Description of software
Computer language used (eg. dBase, Oracle, etc.)
User language (eg. English, Spanish, French etc.)
Compatibility with other software (eg. for data exchange/analysis)

Where available from (Gopher, FTP, regular mail)
Restrictions on supply (if any)
Price (if any)
Contact name (for further information)
Contact address
Contact email


****************** Please address your replies to: *********************

Kevin Painting                     Email:    kevin at bdt.ftpt.br
Base de Dados Tropical             Tel:      +55 192 427022
FTPT "Andre Tosello"               Fax:      +55 192 427827
Rua Latino Coelho, 1301
13.087-010 Campinas - SP
Brazil

****************** Thank you! ******************************************