Biodiversity Information Science and Standards : Conference Abstract
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Corresponding author: Olle Hints (olle.hints@taltech.ee)
Received: 05 Jul 2019 | Published: 10 Jul 2019
© 2019 Olle Hints, Mare Isakar, Ursula Toom
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Hints O, Isakar M, Toom U (2019) A National Geoscience Data Platform and its Application in Paleobiodiversity Studies: Experiences from Estonia. Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 3: e38001. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.3.38001
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Studying deep time biodiversity and environments is largely based on collections of fossils and sedimentary rocks, and the information acquired thereof. The sedimentary bedrocks of Estonia and neighbouring areas constitute a well-preserved archive of Earth history from the late Precambrian to the Devonian period. This interval of geological time hosts several key events in the diversification of life, notably the Cambrian explosion, the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event and the Hirnantian mass extinction. Documenting and understanding these events has benefited from the geological and paleontological collections from the Baltic region, a large part of which are deposited in Estonia.
Since 2004 Estonia has had a 'national geological collection' that virtually joins the archives of three major collection-holding institutions: Tallinn University of Technology, University of Tartu and the Estonian Museum of Natural History (
Data on individual fossil specimens, digital images, localities, regional stratigraphic units, rock samples, datasets, published references, field notebooks etc. are publicly accessible in the Estonian geoscience collections portal (https://geocollections.info). A separate gateway provides access to the information on fossil taxa and their distribution in the Baltic region (https://fossiilid.info). Another example of using the same underlying data platform specifically for paleobiodiversity research is the Baltic chitinozoan database CHITDB (http://chitinozoa.net;
The next steps in enhancing the national geoscience data platform in Estonia are related to the development of new data collection and publication modules, building a complete digital library of geoscience publications related to Estonia and widening the user base of the system. Participation in the national research infrastructure roadmap project NATARC as well as the Pan-European DiSSCo will support achieving this and safeguarding the sustainability of geoscience data and corresponding e-services in Estonia.
geoscience collections, fossils, paleobiodiversity, database, repository, e-service
Olle Hints
Biodiversity_Next 2019
National Research Infrastructure Roadmap of Estonia: Natural History Archives and Information Network (NATARC)