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Center for Biological Informatics

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  Center for Biological Informatics

    The Earth's biological resources play a crucial role in human society. To better understand how they function, how humans affect these resources and systems, and how we might manage them to improve future environmental quality, we must first understand their composition and functions. The USGS Center for Biological Informatics manages programs that provide critical data and information on living resources to land stewards and policy makers. This information is used in support of resource management programs and as the basis for making informed policy decisions.  

Geospatial technologies are the tools used to acquire, store, analyze, and distribute data that are referenced to the Earth's surface, as well as the sciences that study these issues. Specific technologies include geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, Global Positioning System (GPS) applications, and telemetry. Biologists use geospatial technologies to support their research and inventory and monitoring efforts.  The Center for Biological Informatics provides leadership and support for the advancement and application of geospatial technologies.

The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is an electronic gateway to biological data and information maintained by federal, state, and local government agencies; private-sector organizations; and other partners around the nation and the world. The NBII is dedicated to the development of an electronic "federation" of biological data and information sources. Its success rests on a growing network of partners who share and use this information.

When information science encountered the capabilities of computers and telecommunications in the late twentieth century, the discipline of informatics came into being.  Informatics addresses the collection, classification, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of recorded knowledge. Application of computers and telecommunications—especially the Internet and the World Wide Web — to these functions has created new opportunities and new challenges for information management and delivery. And in the natural sciences, information science and computing technology are joined by the relatively new technology of geographic information systems to allow for an even greater depth of knowledge to be stored and applied.

In CBI's efforts to make the information about our biological resources easier to find and use, particularly as the operating agent for the National Biological Information Infrastructure, informatics is a keystone. One way to view the situation is to look at NBII as the "end" and informatics as the "means" to get there. The CBI informatics research and development program investigates, designs, and applies procedures, software applications, tools, and technologies to aid in the integration of biological data, and to improve the content and usefulness of the NBII and other biological information systems.

For more information, visit:  http://biology.usgs.gov/cbi/.