FUB-BGBM

The Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (BGBM, Freie Universität Berlin) provides a unique combination of international collaborative efforts and scientific production in both systematic research and biodiversity informatics. Apart from its traditional role in biosystematics and nomenclature (its botanical garden, herbarium and library each rank among the biggest world-wide), BGBM is participating in national, European and global initiatives related to biodiversity information access and dissemination and has from the beginning taken part in standardisation efforts such as those taking place under the umbrella of TDWG. In biodiversity informatics, the main foci are on taxonomic information systems (EDIT Platform for Cybertaxonomy) and on networking of biological collection data (OpenUp!, GBIF, DNA-Bank Network, JACQ), with a series of EU and and national projects starting in 1992. The BGBM is a member of the Consortium of Large-scale Taxonomic Facilities in Europe (CETAF) and hosts its participant node (BioCASE) for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). BGBM also coordinates the German GBIF participant node.