Life on Earth is sustained by complex interactions between organisms
and their environment. These biotic interactions can be captured in
datasets and published digitally. We present a review process of such an
openly accessible digital interactions dataset of known origin, and
discuss its outcome. The dataset under review, named
globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent, is 151MiB in size and contains 26,438
interaction with 3 unique types of associations (e.g., adjacentTo)
between 8,301 primary taxon (e.g., Fungi) and 14,743 associated taxon
(e.g., rocks). The report includes detailed summaries of interactions
data as well as a taxonomic review from multiple catalogs.
Introduction
Data Review
Data review can be a time consuming process, especially when done
manually. This review report aims to help facilitate data review of
species interaction claims made in datasets registered with Global
Biotic Interactions (Poelen, Simons, and Mungall 2014). The
review includes summary statistics of, and observations about, the
dataset under review:
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, J. Linsley Gressitt Center for Research
in Entomology
https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent/archive/c085398dddd36f8a1169b9cf57de2a572229341b.zip
2024-11-16T00:22:23.955Z
9264ad319d6c8052f783ad98d00a0ea3b0d4731204be42f9e232db02d911714c
For additional metadata related to this dataset, please visit https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent
and inspect associated metadata files including, but not limited to,
README.md, eml.xml, and/or globi.json.
Methods
The review is performed through programmatic scripts that leverage
tools like Preston, Elton, Nomer combined with third-party tools like
grep, mlr, tail and head.
The review process can be described in the form of the script below
1.
# get versioned copy of the dataset (size approx. 151MiB) under review
elton pull globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent
# generate review notes
elton review globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent\
> review.tsv
# export indexed interaction records
elton interactions globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent\
> interactions.tsv
# export names and align them with the Catalogue of Life using Nomer
elton names globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent\
| nomer append col\
> name-alignment.tsv
or visually, in a process diagram.
You can find a recent copy of the full review script at check-data.sh.
Results
In the following sections, the results of the review are summarized
2. Then, links to the detailed review
reports are provided.
Biotic Interactions
In this review, biotic interactions (or biotic associations) are
modeled as a primary (aka subject, source) organism interacting with an
associate (aka object, target) organism. The dataset under review
classified the primary/associate organisms with specific taxa. The
primary and associate organisms The kind of interaction is documented as
an interaction type.
The dataset under review, named globalbioticinteractions/bpbm-ent, is
151MiB in size and contains 26,438 interaction with 3 unique types of
associations (e.g., adjacentTo) between 8,301 primary taxon (e.g.,
Fungi) and 14,743 associated taxon (e.g., rocks).
An exhaustive list of indexed interaction claims can be found in csv and tsv archives. To facilitate
discovery, the first 500 claims available on the html page at indexed-interactions.html are shown
below.
The exhaustive list was used to create the following data summaries
below.
Sample of Indexed Interaction Claims
sourceTaxonName
interactionTypeName
targetTaxonName
referenceCitation
Portulaca pilosa subsp. pilosa
adjacentTo
rock wall
704fb80e-c15a-4740-b8cf-0007cb58bb00
Pneophyllum minutula
adjacentTo
Valonia
dac03d2c-b339-4bf3-a451-0007d1720242
Neraudia ovata
adjacentTo
dry scoria.
6aba83fd-07a5-4b43-b590-000919dfde70
Morinda latibractea
adjacentTo
islet cliffs
3bc0f2b6-75b2-43f9-8f17-000b77fd5c55
Most Frequently Mentioned Interaction Types (up to 20 most
frequent)
interactionTypeName
count
adjacentTo
25094
interactsWith
1203
hasHost
141
Most Frequently Mentioned Primary Taxa (up to 20 most
frequent)
sourceTaxonName
count
Fungi
320
Bryophyta
175
Korthalsella complanata
149
Padina
110
Halimeda opuntia
100
Gracilaria salicornia
92
Lepisorus thunbergianus
81
Sargassum
80
Turbinaria ornata
79
Pandanus tectorius
72
Hydroclathrus clathratus
72
Cassytha filiformis
71
Psilotum complanatum
60
Polypodium pellucidum
59
Lobophora variegata
58
Asplenium nidus
58
Psilotum nudum
57
Dictyota
57
Sida fallax
55
Most Frequently Mentioned Associate Taxa (up to 20 most
frequent)
targetTaxonName
count
rocks
359
rocks.
237
ground
180
tree trunk
178
trees
176
rocks in the subtidal zone.
137
dead coral rock.
135
tree
128
Metrosideros
125
reef
112
rock
105
tree trunks
90
mossy tree trunk
88
ridge
81
shaded
73
shrub
72
coral
60
rocks in the lower tidal zone.
59
aa
56
Most Frequent Interactions between Primary and Associate Taxa
(up to 20 most frequent)
sourceTaxonName
interactionTypeName
targetTaxonName
count
Bryophyta
adjacentTo
shrub
65
Canarium harveyi
interactsWith
a mature tree 8-20 m tall.
30
Turbinaria ornata
adjacentTo
reef.
27
Coccodiella nuda
hasHost
Cibotium chamissoi
19
Padina
adjacentTo
reef
18
Bryophyta
adjacentTo
branch of tree
16
Sargassaceae
adjacentTo
granitic rock.
15
Korthalsella complanata
adjacentTo
Acacia koa
14
Stypopodium
adjacentTo
reef
13
Lyngbya
adjacentTo
volcanic rocks
11
Pteris warburghii
adjacentTo
streambed.
11
Fungi
adjacentTo
leaves.
11
Korthalsella remyana
adjacentTo
Metrosideros
10
Gracilariopsis longissima
adjacentTo
rocks in sand.
10
Ulva compressa
adjacentTo
coral in shallow water
10
Halimeda opuntia
interactsWith
reef with sandy-muddy substratum near shore to sandy-rocky at the
reef edge.
10
Metrosideros polymorpha var. incana
adjacentTo
aa lava flow.
10
Joinvillea plicata
adjacentTo
bank above small stream
10
Hepaticae
adjacentTo
lichen
9
Interaction Networks
The figures below provide a graph view on the dataset under review.
The first shows a summary network on the kingdom level, and the second
shows how interactions on the family level. It is important to note that
both network graphs were first aligned taxonomically using the Catalogue
of Life. Please refer to the original (or verbatim) taxonomic names for
a more original view on the interaction data.
Another way to discover the dataset under review is by searching for
it on the GloBI
website.
Taxonomic Alignment
As part of the review, all names are aligned against various name
catalogs (e.g., col, ncbi, discoverlife, gbif, itis, wfo, mdd, tpt,
pbdb, and worms). These alignments can help review name usage or aid in
selecting of a suitable taxonomic name resource.
Sample of Name Alignments
providedName
relationName
resolvedCatalogName
resolvedName
Rock
NONE
col
Rock
Ft vertical rocks
NONE
col
Ft vertical rocks
Ft flat rocks covered Odonthalia or more usually Rhodomela
NONE
col
Ft flat rocks covered Odonthalia or more usually Rhodomela
Boulders
NONE
col
Boulders
Distribution of Taxonomic Ranks of Aligned Names by Catalog.
Names that were not aligned with a catalog are counted as NAs. So, the
total number of unaligned names for a catalog will be listed in their NA
row.
resolvedCatalogName
resolvedRank
count
col
NA
13459
col
class
7
col
family
81
col
genus
993
col
gigaclass
1
col
kingdom
2
col
order
2
col
phylum
9
col
section
1
col
species
5000
col
subfamily
3
col
subgenus
1
col
subkingdom
1
col
subspecies
99
col
tribe
1
col
variety
50
discoverlife
NA
19655
gbif
NA
11964
gbif
class
8
gbif
family
88
gbif
form
5
gbif
genus
1018
gbif
kingdom
2
gbif
order
2
gbif
phylum
10
gbif
species
6359
gbif
subspecies
119
gbif
variety
191
itis
NA
15716
itis
class
6
itis
division
7
itis
family
84
itis
genus
704
itis
infrakingdom
1
itis
kingdom
2
itis
order
3
itis
phylum
4
itis
species
3026
itis
subclass
1
itis
subkingdom
1
itis
subspecies
81
itis
superclass
1
itis
variety
23
mdd
NA
19654
ncbi
NA
14102
ncbi
clade
3
ncbi
class
6
ncbi
family
79
ncbi
forma
1
ncbi
genus
942
ncbi
kingdom
1
ncbi
order
3
ncbi
phylum
9
ncbi
section
2
ncbi
series
1
ncbi
species
4484
ncbi
subgenus
6
ncbi
subspecies
11
ncbi
superclass
1
ncbi
varietas
9
pbdb
NA
19112
pbdb
class
9
pbdb
family
71
pbdb
genus
382
pbdb
informal
1
pbdb
kingdom
2
pbdb
order
3
pbdb
phylum
9
pbdb
species
62
pbdb
subclass
1
pbdb
superclass
1
pbdb
superphylum
1
pbdb
tribe
1
pbdb
unranked clade
5
tpt
NA
19646
tpt
genus
5
tpt
species
3
wfo
NA
14613
wfo
family
60
wfo
form
3
wfo
genus
630
wfo
order
1
wfo
phylum
1
wfo
section
1
wfo
species
4274
wfo
subspecies
45
wfo
variety
43
worms
NA
18219
worms
class
5
worms
family
66
worms
genus
580
worms
gigaclass
1
worms
kingdom
2
worms
order
3
worms
phylum
4
worms
phylum (division)
6
worms
species
754
worms
subclass
1
worms
subfamily
1
worms
subgenus
1
worms
subkingdom
1
worms
subspecies
11
worms
variety
7
Name relationship types per catalog. Name relationship type
“NONE” means that a name was not recognized by the associated catalog.
“SAME_AS” indicates either a “HAS_ACCEPTED_NAME” or “SYNONYM_OF” name
relationship type. We recognize that “SYNONYM_OF” encompasses many types
of nomenclatural synonymies (ICZN 1999) (e.g., junior synonym, senior
synonyms).
Elton, Nomer, and other tools may have difficulties interpreting
existing species interaction datasets. Or, they may misbehave, or
otherwise show unexpected behavior. As part of the review process,
detailed review notes are kept that document possibly misbehaving, or
confused, review bots. An sample of review notes associated with this
review can be found below.
First few lines in the review notes.
reviewDate
reviewCommentType
reviewComment
2024-11-18T00:50:10Z
note
found unsupported interaction type with name: [associates]
2024-11-18T00:50:10Z
note
found unsupported interaction type with name: [associates]
2024-11-18T00:50:10Z
note
found unsupported interaction type with name: [WNW aspect. Red-brown
clay loam on basalt. Low closed foest]
2024-11-18T00:50:10Z
note
found unsupported interaction type with name: [WNW aspect. Red-brown
clay loam on basalt. Low closed foest]
In addtion, you can find the most frequently occurring notes in the
table below.
Most frequently occurring review notes, if any.
reviewComment
count
found unsupported interaction type with name: [Vegetation]
1708
found unsupported interaction type with name: [associates
include]
503
found unsupported interaction type with name: [Associated
vegetation]
375
found unsupported interaction type with name: [Common plants]
208
For addition information on review notes, please have a look at the
first 500 Review Notes or the download full csv or tsv archives.
GloBI Review Badge
As part of the review, a review badge is generated. This review badge
can be included in webpages to indicate the review status of the dataset
under review.
Note that if the badge is green, no review notes were generated. If
the badge is yellow, the review bots may need some help with
interpreting the species interaction data.
GloBI Index Badge
If the dataset under review has been registered with
GloBI, and has been succesfully indexed by GloBI, the GloBI Index
Status Badge will turn green. This means that the dataset under review
was indexed by GloBI and is available through GloBI services and derived
data products.
If you’d like to keep track of reviews or index status of the dataset
under review, please visit [GloBI’s dataset index ^[At time of writing
(2024-11-18) the version of the GloBI dataset index was available at https://globalbioticinteractions.org/datasets
for badge examples.
Discussion
This review aims to provide a perspective on the dataset to aid in
understanding of species interaction claims discovered. However, it is
important to note that this review does not assess the quality
of the dataset. Instead, it serves as an indication of the open-ness5 and FAIRness (Wilkinson et
al. 2016; Trekels et al. 2023) of the dataset: to perform this
review, the data was likely openly available, Findable,
Accessible, Interoperable and
Reusable. The current Open-FAIR assessment is
qualitative, and a more quantitative approach can be implemented with
specified measurement units.
This report also showcases the reuse of machine-actionable
(meta)data, something highly recommended by the FAIR Data Principles
(Wilkinson et al.
2016). Making (meta)data machine-actionable enables more precise
procesing by computers, enabling even naive review bots like Nomer and
Elton to interpret the data effectively. This capability is crucial for
not just automating the generation of reports, but also for facilitating
seamless data exchanges, promoting interoperability.
Acknowledgements
We thank the many humans that created us and those who created and
maintained the data, software and other intellectual resources that were
used for producing this review. In addition, we are grateful for the
natural resources providing the basis for these human and bot
activities.
Author contributions
Nomer was responsible for name alignments. Elton carried out dataset
extraction, and generated the review notes.
Poelen, Jorrit H., James D. Simons, and Chris J. Mungall. 2014.
“Global Biotic Interactions: An Open Infrastructure to Share and
Analyze Species-Interaction Datasets.”Ecological
Informatics 24 (November): 148–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005.
Trekels, Maarten, Debora Pignatari Drucker, José Augusto Salim, Jeff
Ollerton, Jorrit Poelen, Filipi Miranda Soares, Max Rünzel, Muo Kasina,
Quentin Groom, and Mariano Devoto. 2023. “WorldFAIR Project (D10.1) Agriculture-related pollinator
data standards use cases report.” Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8176978.
Wilkinson, Mark D., Michel Dumontier, IJsbrand Jan Aalbersberg,
Gabrielle Appleton, Myles Axton, Arie Baak, Niklas Blomberg, et al.
2016. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific
Data Management and Stewardship.”Scientific Data 3 (1).
https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18.