Free and Open Access to Biodiversity Data GBIF is an international open data infrastructure, funded by governments. It allows anyone, anywhere to access data about all types of life on Earth, shared across national boundaries via the internet. By encouraging and helping institutions to publish data according to common standards, GBIF enables research not possible before, and informs better decisions to conserve and sustainably use the biological resources of the planet. GBIF operates through a network of nodes, coordinating the biodiversity information facilities of Participant countries and organization, collaborating with each other and the Secretariat to share skills, experiences and technical capacity. Developed by: GBIF arose from a recommendation in 1999 by the Biodiversity Informatics Subgroup of the Megascience Forum, set up by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). That recommendation was endorsed by OECD science ministers and in 2001, GBIF was officially established through Memorandum of Understanding between participating governments.

The Ocean Biodiversity information System (OBIS) aims to absorb, integrate, and assess isolated datasets into a larger, more comprehensive picture of life in our oceans. The system is expected to stimulate research about our oceans to generate new hypotheses concerning evolutionary processes, species distributions, and roles of organisms in marine systems on a global scale. OBIS provides a portal or gateway to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been recorded. The datasets are integrated so you can search them all seamlessly by species name, higher taxonomic level, geographic area, depth, and time; and then map and find environmental data related to the locations. With the evolving OBIS database repository, users can identify biodiversity hotspots and large-scale ecological patterns, analyze dispersions of species over time and space, and plot species' locations with temperature, salinity and depth. Created by the Census of Marine Life (CoML), OBIS is now part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, under its International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) Programme. The following web service technologies are provided for retrieval of OBIS biogeographic distribution records: REST Services, DiGIR, OAI Services and OGC Services.

The aim of WoRMS is to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including information on synonymy. While highest priority goes to valid names, other names in use are included so that this register can serve as a guide to interpret taxonomic literature. The content of WoRMS is controlled by taxonomic experts, which are technically supported by the Database Management Team. Aphia, the consolidated database behind WoRMS, contains valid species names, synonyms and vernacular names, and extra information such as literature and biogeographic data. Besides species names, Aphia also contains the higher classification in which each scientific name is linked to its parent taxon. The classification used is a ‘compromise’ between established systems and recent changes. Its aim is to aid data management, rather than suggest any taxonomic or phylogenetic opinion on species relationships.

The Catalogue of Life is the most comprehensive and authoritative global index of species currently available. It consists of a single integrated species checklist and taxonomic hierarchy. The Catalogue holds essential information on the names, relationships and distributions of over 1.5 million species. This figure continues to rise as information is compiled from diverse sources around the world. There are two distinct versions of the Catalogue: the Catalogue of Life monthly edition and the Catalogue of Life Annual Checklist. Developed by: The Catalogue of Life is led by Species 2000, working in partnership with the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). Used data resources: The Catalogue of Life depends upon the contributions of more than 100 Global Species Databases, established at centers of expertise around the world. New data sources are continuously being identified to address gaps in the Catalogue. An overview of all contributing databases can be found at http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/info/databases

WRIMS records which marine species in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) have been introduced deliberately or accidentally by human activities to geographic areas outside their native range. It excludes species that colonized new locations naturally (so called 'range extensions'), even if in response to climate change. WRIMS notes the origin (source location) of the species at a particular location by country, sea area and/or latitude longitude as available. If the species is reported to have caused ecological or economic impacts it is considered invasive in that location. Each record is linked to a source publication or specialist database. A glossary of terminology is available. Species of particular concern because of being invasive have a peer-reviewed profile on the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). In using WRIMS, users need to consider possible species misidentifications in the sources, and that for some species it is uncertain which are their native and introduced ranges. Whether a species is 'invasive' can vary between locations and over time at a particular location. The WRIMS data resulted from a data collection project within the framework of EMODnet Biology, and was established by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in cooperation with the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG). The WRIMS website is developed and hosted by VLIZ. WRIMS is part of the consolidated database Aphia, the database behind the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS).