Type of site | Biodiversity database |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | Bishop Museum |
Created by | Gerald McCormack |
URL | cookislands.bishopmuseum.org |
Commercial | No |
Registration | Free |
Launched | 8 March 2003 |
Current status | Active |
The Cook Islands Biodiversity website is a database with a collection of information on the plants and animals, native and non-native, found in the Cook Islands.
The collection of data and the development of the database on MS Access took more than a dozen years. The Bishop Museum (Honolulu), with support from PBIN, facilitated the programming of the database for the web and hosts the website. It was launched on 8 March 2003, reprogrammed and radically redesigned on 1 May 2005, and further developed 1 October 2005. [1] In 2011 the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust enlisted expert computer specialists to redesign its extensive online biodiversity database. [2]
This was an allocation over and above the Trust's basic budget, as outlined in its 2008–09 annual report, which was tabled in parliament by Prime Minister Henry Puna (also minister of National Environment Services).
The multimedia database is designed to integrate scientific and traditional information on all the plants and animals of the Cook Islands – native and non-native; terrestrial, marine, and freshwater. The database can use a range of criteria to display subsets of species for special interest groups. [1] A species can be searched in Latin, English, or Cook Islands Māori. [3]
The Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust has a permanent research staff of one: Gerald McCormack. Gerald McCormack has worked for the Cook Islands Government since 1980. In 1990 he became the director and researcher for the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Project – a Trust since 1999. He is the lead developer of the Biodiversity Database, which is based on information from local and overseas experts, fieldwork and library research. [1]
The website and its database are available on CD from the Natural Heritage Trust. A new CD is produced each year about mid-year. [1]
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 staff. Its board of trustees is chaired by Dame Amelia Fawcett.
Conservation in Australia is an issue of state and federal policy. Australia is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, with a large portion of species endemic to Australia. Preserving this wealth of biodiversity is important for future generations.
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction.
The Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) is a heritage-listed botanical garden located in Acton, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Established in 1949, the Gardens is administered by the Australian Government's Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. The botanic gardens was added to the Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.
Takutea is a small uninhabited island in the Cook Islands, 21 kilometres north-west of Atiu. Administratively, the island is considered part of Atiu, the closest island. It is owned equally by all inhabitants of Atiu and not allocated to one specific village or district of Atiu.
NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. NatureServe reports being "headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with regional offices in four U.S. locations and in Canada." In calendar year 2011 they reported having 86 employees, 6 volunteers, and 15 independent officers.
Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources.
Animal Diversity Web (ADW) is an online database that collects the natural history, classification, species characteristics, conservation biology, and distribution information on thousands of species of animals. The website includes thousands of photographs, hundreds of sound clips, and a virtual museum.
The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is a cultural history and natural history museum on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas, United States.The museum was built in 1963 to commemorate the centenary of Texas independence, making it the oldest museum in El Paso.
The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of non-experts throughout the world. It aims to build one "infinitely expandable" page for each species, including video, sound, images, graphics, as well as text. In addition, the Encyclopedia incorporates content from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, which digitizes millions of pages of printed literature from the world's major natural history libraries. The project was initially backed by a US$50 million funding commitment, led by the MacArthur Foundation and the Sloan Foundation, who provided US$20 million and US$5 million, respectively. The additional US$25 million came from five cornerstone institutions—the Field Museum, Harvard University, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Institution. The project was initially led by Jim Edwards and the development team by David Patterson. Today, participating institutions and individual donors continue to support EOL through financial contributions.
The conquered lorikeet is a species of parrot that became extinct 700–1300 years ago. It lived in islands of Polynesia. David Steadman and Marie Zarriello wrote its species description in 1987.
The Hawaii Biological Survey, located on the campus of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, was created as a program of the Bishop Museum by the Hawaii State legislature in 1992. HBS is an ongoing natural history inventory of the Hawaiian archipelago. It was created to locate, identify, and evaluate all native and non-native fauna and flora within the state, and to maintain the reference collections of that biota for a wide range of uses. The Bishop Museum collections are one of the largest in the United States, with more than 23 million specimens and objects.The HBS collections of plants and animals from the Hawaiian Islands total more than 4 million specimens.
Hakea gibbosa, commonly known as hairy hakea or needlebush hakea, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, and is endemic to south eastern Australia. It has very prickly foliage, cream-yellowish flowers from April to July, and provides shelter for small birds. It has become an environmental weed in South Africa and New Zealand, where it had been introduced for use as a hedge plant.
Anticarsia irrorata, the owl moth, is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. It is native to the Old World tropics.
Paradoxosomatidae, the only family in the suborder Paradoxosomatidea, is a family of flat-backed millipedes in the order Polydesmida. Containing nearly 200 genera and 975 species as of 2013, it is one of the largest families of millipedes. Paradoxosomatids occur on all continents except Antarctica, and can generally be distinguished by dorsal grooves on most body segments and a dumb-bell shaped gonopod aperture. Notable groups within the Paradoxosomatidae include the dragon millipedes of Southeast Asia, and the widely introduced greenhouse millipede Oxidus gracilis.
The Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust is a programme of the Government of the Cook Islands to collect and integrate scientific and traditional information on local organisms and related subjects ; which can be accessed at the Cook Islands Biodiversity database. The programme and driving force behind the CINHT is Gerald McCormack. Originally the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Project, the programme came about when Gerald felt, in the course of his educational work, that there should be a list of the local flora and fauna available to locals. This modest goal expanded over the years and continues to expand with Gerald at the helm.
The greenhouse millipede, also known as the hothouse millipede, short-flange millipede, or garden millipede, is a species of millipede in the family Paradoxosomatidae that has been widely introduced around the world, and is sometimes a pest in greenhouses.
Orthomorpha coarctata, the long-flange millipede, is a widely introduced species of Polydesmidan millipede of the family Paradoxosomatidae. It is presumed native to Southeast Asia but due to transport by humans occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas throughout the world, including the Hawaiian Islands, the West Indies, Gulf Coast of North America, and the Galápagos Islands.
Piletocera fluctualis is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1787. It is found on Tonga and the Cook Islands.
Solanum viride, the green nightshade, garland berry, cannibal's tomato, poroporo or boro dina, is a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae. It is native to a number of south Pacific Islands, and has been introduced to Hawaii. In Fiji at the time of contact, human meat was cooked wrapped in its leaves, and a condiment for the meal was made from the fruit.