Ukrainian Biodiversity Information Network (UkrBIN)

A convenient tool for naturalists, a source of data for science

• Online documentation of your own or shared observations
• Management of your checklist
• Identification of species that were observed
• Determination of trophic links
• Explore dynamic maps and charts
• Distribute your observations and join UkrBIN community
• Help biodiversity research and conservation

Review
UkrBIN is a web project and application documenting biodiversity. It has improved the way to share and access information on the occurrence of species. Launched in cooperation with the Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences, UkrBIN provides rich sources of data for basic information on the abundance and occurrence of species in various spatial and temporal scales.
UkrBIN's goal is to maximise the efficiency and availability of a huge amount of observations each year for amateurs and professional biologists. It accumulates a huge amount of information resources on biodiversity. For example, only in May 2017, participants reported more than 16.5 thousand observations in Ukraine! Beside the field observations, the significant part of records is derived from the text mining of scientific publications and from the natural history museums. The project is also operating in collaboration with Institute of ecology of the Carpathians, Museum of Nature of Kharkiv University and open to partnership with other academic and government institutions.
Observations of each participant are added to those performed by others in the UkrBIN international network of users. UkrBIN shares these observations with the global community of users, e.g. lecturers, land surveyors, environmentalists and nature guards. Subsequently, this data will form the basis for a better understanding of the distribution of biota throughout Ukraine and beyond.
Along with occurrences data, the network provides images of species. UkrBIN community facilitates crowdsourcing identification of submitted photo-observations.
UkrBIN provides a searchable online database of the Animal-Plant-Fungi biological interactions known to date from around the world.

History
The development of the UkrBIN database began on July 20, 2014, with the collaboration of entomologist Nikolai Yunakov and programmer, naturalist photographer, and amateur entomologist Boris Loboda. They combined their experience from working with the taxonomic database 3i (now TaxonWorks) and the photo gallery site kharkov.naturalist.su, a project initiated by amateur photographers and the Kharkiv Entomological Society in 2009.

The UkrBIN network was established in 2017 as a page on the website of the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (izan.kiev.ua/ukrbin), within the scientific topic "Entomofauna of Ukraine: inventory and identification, phylogeny, morphology, and taxonomy of the most important groups of insects in the context of world fauna." The online test mode of the page began on February 1, 2017, with the official launch occurring on June 10, 2017. By March 1, 2018, the project had transitioned to its own domain, ukrbin.com.

Initially focused on entomology, UkrBIN quickly evolved into a biodiversity network encompassing all groups of organisms. The project attracted participation from numerous scientists, including zoologists, botanists, mycologists, and amateur naturalists.



How does it work?
UkrBIN documents the presence of species, as well as their abundance through data from checklists. UkrBIN is also documenting finds of fossil species. A simple and intuitive web interface attracts participants to submit their comments or view results using interactive database queries. UkrBIN encourages users to participate by providing Internet tools that support their own records, enabling them to visualize through interactive maps, charts and histograms. All these features are available in English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Create your own account to upload new photos and datasets or manage UkrBIN content. Using "Add Photo Observation" select photo(s), fill the geographic form: when and where the observation was made, and then press "Add Determination" and fill out the form to identify the taxonomic rank to which you able to do that. In complex cases, experts complete identification and help the observer. Thus, an observer receives a verified identification. UkrBIN provides various options for data collection, including point counting, transect and region search. Automated data filters, developed by regional experts, verify the data coming from users prior to the data are incorporated into the general database. Local experts revise unusual submissions marked with filters.

Data Integration
UkrBIN collects data in the form of checklists and identified geotagged photos from observers through portals that are managed and maintained by local experts and amateurs. In this way, UkrBIN cooperates with a community with a high level of expertise in local biodiversity. Portals that co-operate with UkrBIN may have a regional orientation or taxonomic specialisation (carabidae.org, diptera.info), or they may have more specific goals and/or special techniques (plantarium.ru, zin.ru).

Data availability
UkrBIN data is stored safely and archived daily and is accessible through the UkrBIN website and through the international community of biodiversity. For example, UkrBIN data is part of the Catalogue of Life and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Thus, any contribution to UkrBIN improves our understanding of the distribution, wealth and uniqueness of the biodiversity hotspots on the Earth.

Taxonomic Concept
UkrBIN deals with world biota. To avoid misinterpretation and make our database congruent to the world context we adopt taxonomic backbone of the Catalogue of Life as most consensus and up-to-date taxa tree. More detailed taxonomic arrangement of genera, tribes and subfamilies as in Tree of Life web project

Recommended Citation
UkrBIN. 2024. UkrBIN: Ukrainian Biodiversity Information Network [public project & web application]. UkrBIN, Database on Biodiversity Information. Available: http://www.ukrbin.com (Accessed: Date [e.g. January 1, 2024]).

Software
BugGallery v.1.4
© 2007-2024 UkrBIN Team.

Research based on UkrBIN data
Fast Recent Expansion of the Spanish Slug (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Arionidae) Across Ukraine

Is the lady's-slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) likely to shortly become extinct in Europe?—Insights based on ecological niche modelling