South African National Parks (SANParks) has introduced a new digital platform.
Known as the Biodiversity Information Management System (BIMS), it is designed to improve biodiversity data management for national parks and marine protected areas.
Picture: Sourced
As reported by Tourism Update, the system was developed by the Freshwater Research Centre and Kartoza. It was also funded by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation.
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According to SANParks, the new system builds on the functionality of the existing Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS). It also integrates occurrence data from park checklists, publications, monitoring records and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Moreover, it allows users to input, update and access species checklists. This provides a consolidated view of biodiversity data across protected areas.
As some data is not fully accurate, users need to be careful in interpreting outputs, looking out for any inaccuracies as far as variations in taxonomic naming classification are concerned.
The system further enables users to filter and query data based on location, conservation status, time and occurrence records.
Currently, a number of future enhancements are anticipated and are subject to funding.
These include the integration of climate data similar to the functionality which is available on the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System.
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