The Catalogue of Life: towards an integrative taxonomic backbone for biodiversity

Abstract

The Catalogue of Life Programme is addresseing the need for a comprehensive catalogue of the world’s presently known animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms. The need is for an electronic catalogue that can be used as a taxonomic back-bone. In a wide variety of programmes covering species and documenting many types of biotic materials and records. The First Phase of the programme has used an architecture based on an array of global species databases to reach coverage of about two-thirds of known species. In the Second Phase of the Programme there will be a new architecture, a new array of services, and a ring of partnerships with global programmes.