Oceanography (Mar 2010)
SeamountsOnline: A Desktop Window Into the Lives of Seamounts
Abstract
SeamountsOnline (http://seamounts.sdsc.edu) is a Web site where scientists and data managers can get information on what species live on different seamounts. SeamountsOnline staff access high-quality data by requesting data sets directly from seamount researchers globally, and entering data from publications, then making these data searchable and available in an integrated electronic format. Although not complete, it is becoming “one-stop shopping” for data on seamount biodiversity. The core data held are records that a particular organism was observed or collected from a particular seamount, including when and how. These data can be searched by organism name, by seamount name, or by region. Data are returned as distribution maps, downloadable tables, and hierarchical taxonomic trees.