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22 January 2017 | Online Biodiversity Pictorial Databases in Singapore |
Last month, I received an email on BIOME workshops. I had almost forgotten about BIOME which I had registered as a
user some years ago. BIOME stands for Biodiversity and Environment Database System.
NParks had revamp this website recently with the addition of a phone apps to upload photos to the site. BIOME is one of the
two national biodiversity databases set up
in 2011 that "serves as a single repository of biodiversity (flora and fauna, plants and animals information of Singapore)
and environment related data .....”. The other national biodiversity database is the all-time popular
Flora & Fauna Web “created to cater to the growing horticultural
interest and wildlife awareness in Singapore”.
BIOME's format reminded me of a global biodiversity database that is also citizen science-based ---- Project Noah. So far, it was the best platform in this league (i.e. citizen science-based) that I had seen. Project Noah, according to its home page is "a tool to explore and document wildlife and a platform to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere”. I signed up an account in 2011 but was not very active since then; posted only 29 sightings and the last one on back in 2015.
Besides BIOME and Flora & Fauna Web, there were 2 more biodiversity databases, namely Digital Nature Archive
(DNA) of Singapore and Animals & Plants of Singapore (APS). The DNA of Singapore was
launched in July 2012
by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, now known as
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. The second one, Animals & Plants of
Singapore, was
started in February 2015
by Dr Yuchen from the National University of Singapore.
Apparently, this later website “evolved from and incorporates the information from the museum's earlier website, Digital
Nature Archive”.
These days, there is no lack of information for nature enthusiasts keen to know and learn about what is out there in the wild side of Singapore, compared to the days when I started my website about 10 years back. Since I am already sharing my sightings in my website, I am unlikely to post anything in BIOME for now.
Update: 18 February 2023
Both Digital Nature Archive (DNA) of Singapore and Animals & Plants of Singapore (APS) websites had closed shop or should I say migrated to a new website known as the Biodiversity of Singapore since 2017. I had removed their links in the above post since they were no longer working.
As for BIOME, my login access was still working despite me being inactive for a long time. I browsed around and did an attempt to submit a verification on a picture posted by someone. A dialog box pop out and requested for the scientific and common names. I entered Poikilospermum suaveolens and left the common name field blank. It did not allow me to submit so I had to type in a common name. After I submitted, nothing show up on the web page, not even a message to indicate my submission was successful. There is probably still some way to go to make the website more interactive and spontaneous.