Scientific Aspects of Biodiversity Databasing

Biodiversity is the study of species in time and space (Vecchione and Collette 1996). To accomplish the goals of understanding or conserving nature (Reaka-Kudla et al. 1997a), a biodiversity study requires substantial amounts of information used in estimating basic parameters. Some parameters of interest include measures of species diversity, estimates of the types of biodiversity, and estimates of changes in biodiversity and associated physical and biological factors. Managing such information admittedly is highly complex but necessary in the study of biodiversity (Reaka-Kudla et al. 1997b).