Galápagos Data & Knowledge Center
Summary
This outlines the establishment of a new multi-institutional Data & Knowledge Center on the Galápagos Islands.
The center will allow for centralized management of research projects, on-site analysis, and secure storage of high quality data from both short- and long-term surveys as well as static monitoring stations.
Establishing a new Data & Knowledge Center will:
- Safeguard and preserve collected data for future generations of scientists
- Enable long-term, repetitive studies that produce vast amounts of data
- Promote scientific collaboration by centralizing data storage and management
- Be the first step towards a multi-institutional Knowledge and Research hub on the Galápagos Islands
Background
The Galápagos Marine Reserve is one of the largest and most biologically diverse in the world with a total area of 92,775 km². The Hermandad Marine Reserve adds another 60,000 km² to the protected area. This new extension will protect the Galápagos-Cocos corridor in which a large number of different species thrive. Great efforts are underway to understand and protect this truly unique marine environment.
A massive undertaking
The preservation of the Galápagos Marine Reserve is a massive undertaking. Researchers connected to various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) collaborate with government funded initiatives to preserve the Galápagos Islands and their marine environment.
Great challenges and opportunities
Although researchers, organizations and NGOs on Galápagos do an incredible job, the challenges are great and improvements are needed to facilitate coordination, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. A major improvement for the whole scientific community would be to establish a multi-institutional Data & Knowledge Center where all types of research data can be stored and accessed as needed.
project Description
Safe-guarding collected data in a Centralized data center
To safely store data for both current and future research, a dedicated facility for data storage and management has to be established. The Galápagos Data & Knowledge Center would provide safe and long-term data storage as well as supporting all scientific projects in the Galápagos Marine Reserve.
Saving data for future research
With a central data storage, both historic and new data from different surveys can be combined and analyzed. This allows for detection of correlations between data from different fields of research.
Complex dependencies can be discovered that might not otherwise be found. Collected data can be reanalyzed in the future when new methods to extract information have been developed.
Creating a center for knowledge
With all data available, a new center for knowledge can be established. This will be a scientific hub where researchers and scholars from different institutions can collaborate in preservation of the Galápagos marine environment. Informed decisions can be taken, thereby providing sustainable routines for areas such as fishing and tourism.
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