The ELIXIR Biodiversity Community: Understanding short- and long-term changes in biodiversity

Abstract

Biodiversity loss is now recognised as one of the major challenges for humankind to address over the next few decades. Unless major actions are taken, the sixth mass extinction will lead to catastrophic effects on the Earth's biosphere and human health and well-being. ELIXIR can help address the technical challenges of biodiversity science, through leveraging its suite of services and expertise to enable data management and analysis activities that enhance our understanding of life on Earth and facilitate biodiversity preservation and restoration. This white paper, prepared by the ELIXIR Biodiversity Community, summarises the current status and responses, and presents a set of plans, both technical and community-oriented, that should both enhance how ELIXIR Services are applied in the biodiversity field and how ELIXIR builds connections across the many other infrastructures active in this area. We discuss the areas of highest priority, how they can be implemented in cooperation with the ELIXIR Platforms, and their connections to existing ELIXIR Communities and international consortia. The article provides a preliminary blueprint for a Biodiversity Community in ELIXIR and is an appeal to identify and involve new stakeholders.

Keywords: Biodiversity Informatics; Biodiversity Networks; Community Roadmap; Data Science; ELIXIR Strategy; Environmental Systems; White Paper.

Figure 1.. The biodiversity knowledge graph defined by Roderick D.M. Page (2013, .

Genomics data comprise one facet of the biodiversity knowledge graph, where questions and approaches in biodiversity research traverse the paths in this graph, and where all parts of the graph are constantly ‘evolving’ and growing. Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-4.0.