The seminar was the first of two workshops as part of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) funded project entitled; “Improving the accessibility of National Biodiversity Data in Trinidad and Tobago.”
The workshop aimed to equip a wide range of stakeholders with the necessary skills to use and extract local biodiversity data from the GBIF database.
Lead of the project, Dr. Amy Deacon, explained what UWI is doing to help fill this gap. She provided an update concerning the progression of the DLS GBIF funded project, which is in the process of digitising and publishing the collections of the UWI Zoology Museum, the National Herbarium of T&T and the National Museum & Art Gallery of T&T, which will significantly increase the specimen-based occurrence data from T&T that is represented on GBIF.
Stakeholders were taught to manoeuvre the GBIF user interface prior to conducting an exercise where specific datasets and occurrence datapoints were identified.
Information regarding the Trinidad and Tobago Biodiversity Information System (TTBIS) and the use of the IMA Marine Datahub was presented by Dr. Lena Dempewolf of the TTBIS and Dr. Anjani Ganase of the IMA respectively.
The seminar was brought to a close following the display of the IMA Marine Reference Collection which was presented by Ms. Alana Jute of the IMA. A discussion session was conducted whereby participants were tasked to develop ways in which accessible biodiversity data can be employed in Trinidad and Tobago to combat anthropogenic or environmental disturbances. Finally, participants enjoyed a tour of the UWI Zoology museum from Jacob Whiby and Ariel Dalrymple.
The DLS and its partner organizations have continued to play an integral role in the collection, dissemination and preservation of biodiversity data at the National level, and this workshop is a key step in increasing the ease of accessibility to local biodiversity data by a wide variety of organisations with a number of diverse potential uses for these datasets - including education, research and policy.
Report by Jacob Whiby and Amy Deacon