Project Support

The framework and majority of software development for the Symbiota Virtual Biota Software Project has been financially supported by several National Science Foundation (NSF) grants. A significant portion of development has also been performed in collaboration with several partnerships. Using an open source development model, several projects have taken the lead to develop particular modules in a manner that makes the new features available to the greater portal community.

Direct Support

  • Networking Our Research Legacy: Infrastructure to Document, Manage, and Access Ecological Data Resources
    • Active 1999-2003 (ABI-9983132)
    • Investigators: Peter McCartney (PI), Nancy Grimm, Charles Redman, Timothy Craig, Corinna Gries
    • Lead institution: Arizona State University
    • Supplied initial support for the creation of the SEINet specimen search engine in 2001, which was the original prototype that later developed into the Symbiota Software project
  • Symbiota, A Virtual Flora Model for the Southwestern United States
    • Active 2008-2012 (ABI-0743827)
    • Investigators: Corinna Gries (PI), Thomas Nash, Edward Gilbert
    • Lead institution: Arizona State University
    • Primary support for the development to an interactive Biodiversity Content Management System
  • Collaborative Research: ABI Development: Symbiota2: Enabling greater collaboration and flexibility for mobilizing biodiversity data
    • Active 2018 – 2021 (NSF-ABI 1759965 & NSF-ABI 1759966)
    • Investigators: Curtis Dyreson (Lead PI), Mary Barkworth, Ben Brandt, Will Pearse
    • Refactoring software code, abstraction layer, increasing modularity in function, and providing additional functionality 

Projects with Secondary Support for Symbiota Development

  • NSF BDI-0847966; PIs: Leslie Landrum, Corinna Gries (cgries@wisc.edu); Lead institution: Arizona State University
  • NSF EF-1115116: OCR/NLP tools, exsiccati management; PIs: Corinna Gries (cgries@wisc.edu), Thomas Nash; Lead institution: University of Wisconsin – Madison
  • NSF EF-1209149: Phenology and occurrence trait management; PIs: Patrick Sweeney (patrick.sweeney@yale.edu),
    Michael Donoghue; Lead institution: Yale University
  • ASU/Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute collaboration: Reference Module; Specimen Mapping Tool; PIs: Nico Franz (nico.franz@asu.edu); Lead institution: Arizona State University, Smithsonian Tropical Research Insitute
  • NSF EF-1207371: Filtered-Push module, Image Search Tool; PIs: Neil Cobb (Neil.Cobb@nau.edu), ; Lead institution: Northern Arizona University (SCAN TCN))
  • NSF EF-1410069: iPlant image batch processing tools, Skeletal records submission tool, GeoLocate Community integration); PI: Zack Murrell (murrellze@appstate.edu), et al; Lead institution: Appalachian State University
  • NSF DBI -1304924
  • NSF EF-1410683: Darwin Core Archive transfer tool; PIs: Kenneth Cameron (kmcameron@wisc.edu); Lead institution: University of Wisconsin – Madison
  • New York Botanical Garden: Integration of SALIX OCR/NLP, batch OCR import tool; PI: Barbara Thiers (bthiers@nybg.org)
  • NSF DBI -1602081 Computer vision deep-learning neural net workflow, added functionality to Spatial Module; PI: Neil Cobb (Neil.Cobb@nau.edu); Lead institution: Northern Arizona University (LepNet TCN)
  • NSF EF-1502735: Statistic reporting – ver. 2; PIs: Andrew Miller (amiller7@illinois.edu), Steven Stephenson, Deborah Lewis, Thorsten Lumbsch, Robert Luecking; Lead institution: University of Illinois

 

Partnerships and Institutional Support

Current development focuses on the creation and expansion of various data management features and modules so that they are fully integrated within the software framework. A number of modules are independent of the Symbiota2 Project.  Collaborative development using open-source philosophy ensures the greater community will benefit from the new and improved features. Below is a list of some of the partners that have supported software development and code submission within the Symbiota code repository.