Mr CAMERON Slatyer1, Tania Laity1, Simon Sherrin1, Peggy Newman1
1Atlas Of Living Australia, Canberra, Australia
Biography:
Cam Slatyer manages the taxonomic backbone of the Atlas of Living Australia and co-chairs the international TDWG working group on Sensitive species data extension for the Darwin Core Standard. He has worked in the Museum Sector in collections and research, the Australian Biological Resources Study and has worked in both state and Commonwealth Government.
Tania Laity is the Atlas of Living Australia's Policy and Business Analyst and co-chairs the international TDWG working group on Sensitive species with Cam. She has worked extensively nationally in sensitive species data, data governance, government processes and business analysis and has worked in Commonwealth, State and Local Government
Abstract:
The Atlas of Living Australia is the largest publicly available repository of biodiversity data in Australia with over 182 million observations, drawn from a huge array of sources from citizen science to herbaria and museums and state agencies. With over 160,000 registered users and over 5,000 public servants and industry users, it is heavily used by industry, government and research. The ALA works closely with Governments to correctly represent threatened species and to manage sensitive species or restricted access species data (RASD).
There is growing concern among many organisations and researchers about RASD, that is, data that needs to be modified or withheld from the general public. This concern is mirrored by an increasingly data-literate data users who wish to use biodiversity data for purposes contrary to the welfare of species, from poaching to species tourism. Of all the complexities of managing RASD, event data – where multiple species records are made at a single point – represent some of the most challenging issues in making data available for decision-making and science while protecting species. eDNA, as one of the fastest growing event data sources globally, needs to develop protocols for managing these issues sooner rather than later.
We will discuss the complexities around event-type data including some peculiarities of eDNA data and discuss how the ALA handles RASD and how the draft new Darwin Core data extension on RASD paves the way for institutions, regions or countries to develop a consistent approach to the management of restricted eDNA data.