Atlas of African Echinoderma
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Date started: 2012-10-04 15:32:19
Web page:
Echinoderms (starfish, sea-urchins, brittle-stars and their kin) are conspicuous and attractive marine animals, frequently photographed by divers. Although many can be identified from photographs, no comprehensive guide to South African species exists, making it difficult to accurately identify images. The fauna is also poorly know, making it very likely that divers will encounter species new to the region, or even to science. This site aims to collate all available images of echinoderms from South Africa, thus building up a comprehensive identification guide, as well as mapping the ranges of each species. Images of all South African echinoderms are welcomed and all contribute equally towards a better understanding of the distribution patterns of these fascinating creatures.
ECHINOMAP Metadata | |
| 1) DATASET CONTACT | |
| Name of Organization/Department | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Contact person (Person to contact about the dataset) | Professor Charles L. Griffiths |
| Position | Project Manager |
| Postal Address | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Postal code | 7701 |
| City/Town | Rondebosch, Cape Town |
| Province | Western Cape |
| Country | South Africa |
| Telephone | +27 (0)21 650 3610 |
| Cell | |
| Fax | +27 (0)21 650 3301 |
| Charles.Griffiths@uct.ac.za | |
| Website address (url) | http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=EchinoMAP |
| 2) DATASET METADATA | |
| Title of dataset | Atlas of African Echinoderma |
| Brief description (max. 200 words) | The aim of EchinoMAP is to update the distribution of all African Echinoderms (starfish, sea-urchins, brittle-stars and their kin) species. Through collaborations with professional scientists, conservation organisations, divers and citizen scientists across Africa, we consolidate all reliable and identifiable evidence of current Echinoderms locations into an open-access digital database. |
| Purpose (max. 200 words) | The information consolidated within EchinoMAP will build up a comprehensive identification guide, as well as mapping the ranges of each species. |
| Begin date (When data collection started) | 2012-10-04 |
| End date for static datasets (When was data collection ended) | on-going |
| 3) DATA QUALITY | |
| Give a brief account of any biases, gaps or errors which may exist in the dataset. | All VM records include coordinates. Species identificatios in the VM collections are done by a panel of Echinoderm experts. Photos submitted to the virtual museum are biased to species that are easy to photograph and to areas which are most accessible to the public. |
| 4) ACCESS/USE CONSTRAINTS | |
| How to get a copy of the dataset | Data summaries and distributions maps are available in the project's website. For raw data requests email the contact person. |
| 5) OTHER INFORMATION | |
| Other information about the dataset which may be important. | EchinoMAP s a joint project of the Animal Demography Unit and the Marine Biology Research Centre at the Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| 6) METADATA AUTHOR | |
| Author name (name of the person who entered the metadata record) | Dr Rene Navarro |
| Author organization | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Author position | Information Systems Specialist |
| Author address | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Author postal code | 7701 |
| Author city/town | Cape Town |
| Author province | Western Cape |
| Author country | South Africa |
| Author telephone | +27 (0)21 650 4751 |
| Author fax | +27 (0)21 650 3301 |
| Author email | rene.navarro@uct.ac.za |
| Metadata creation date | 20-Jun-2013 |
| Last update of metadata | 31-July-2018 |
