The Paleobiology Database is an international, distributed databasing effort that covers every taxonomic group, geographic region, and time interval, and brings together over one hundred Ph.D.s from more than seventy institutions in thirteen countries. This grant will cover the Database's core staff and facility during a twelve-month interval.
The Database incorporates a wide variety of data types, including taxonomy, geological contexts of fossil collections, and taxonomic lists. The Database has compiled information on 36,923 fossil collections and 66,506 taxa since its inception in 2000, and serves as a repository for multiple independent research consortia. Participants directly enter and analyze their data using webbased tools, and make the Database an integral part of their research programs. Membership in the Database is open and contributors are recruited from the broadest base possible. The Database is governed by an international, 15-member Advisory Board that includes representatives of all major paleontological subdisciplines. Standards for data formatting are determined communally. The Database maintains a core facility, hosted by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Data are backed up on mirror sites and by regularly repositing CD-Rs at five different institutions. Data are freely shared with other organizations such as CHRONOS, GBIF and MorphoBank.
Intellectual merit.--The Database is divided into six scientific working groups that meet regularly to collaborate on research projects, and has thus far generated 30 official publications. The marine working group is establishing a benchmark global Phanerozoic diversity curve, using modern methods of sampling standardization. The new curve appears to be less steep than the previously accepted pattern. The vertebrate paleontology group is quantifying major patterns of sampling intensity bias, with similar implications. The paleobotany group is documenting unexpected Phanerozoic trends in diversity at local scales. The taphonomy/paleoecology group is assessing the notably small impact of hard-part durability on the probability of preservation in the fossil record.
Broader impacts.--Paleobiological data are of broad interest throughout the Earth and biological sciences, and the project has a large educational and public outreach component. Students throughout the Database's distributed research network are involved in entering and analyzing data.
