The Symbiota Software Project is building a library of webtools to aid biologists in establishing specimen based virtual floras and faunas. This project developed from the realization that complex, information rich biodiversity portals are best built through collaborative efforts between software developers, biologist, wildlife managers, and citizen scientist. The central premise of this open source software project is that through a partnership between software engineers and scientific community, higher quality and more publicly useful biodiversity portals can be built. An open source software framework allows the technicians to create the tools, thus freeing the biologist to concentrate their efforts on the curation of quality datasets. In this manor, we can create something far greater than a single entity is capable of doing on their own.
More information about this project can be accessed through:
Symbiota has been generously funded by the National Science Foundation (DBI-0743827) from 15 July 2008 to 30 June 2011 (Estimated). The Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) at Arizona State University has also been a major supporters of the Symbiota initiative since the very beginning. Arizona State University Vascular Plant and Lichen Herbarium have been intricately involved in the development from the start. Sky Island Alliance and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum have both been long-term participants in the development of this product.
Please read the INSTALL.md file for installation instructions.