WebBee – a web-based information network on bees
Saraiva, A.M.; Imperatriz-Fonseca, V.L.; Cunha, R.S.; Cartolano-Júnior, E.A. (2003). WebBee – a web-based information network on bees. Revista de Engenharia de Computação e Sistemas Digitais 1: 77-86
In: Revista de Engenharia de Computação e Sistemas Digitais. Universidade de São Paulo, Escola Politécnica, Departamento de Engenharia de Computação e Sistemas Digitais: São Paulo. ISSN 1678-8435; e-ISSN 1809-306X, more
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| Author keywords |
bees, information system, Internet, database, biodiversity |
| Authors | | Top |
- Saraiva, A.M.
- Imperatriz-Fonseca, V.L.
- Cunha, R.S.
- Cartolano-Júnior, E.A.
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| Abstract |
There is a growing awareness on the importance of the world’s biodiversity and on its fast decline due to many factors, including human activities. Among the huge number of animal and plant species on Earth, it is estimated that only 10% are known and this is one of the main obstacles for developing conservation programs. In order to increase the knowledge and understanding of that diversity, there is a worldwide effort for digitizing and integrating the information already available but geographically disperse, which will eventually result in an electronic Catalogue of Life, accessible on the Internet. Many pollinators, including bees, are among those threatened species and their decline is especially dangerous as they arecrucial for maintaining global biodiversity and for crop production. This paper presents a Web-based information system that was developed to organize knowledge and facilitate sharing of information on bees. It is aimed at different audiences, from researchers to basic level students, from policy-makers to beekeepers, who need high quality information on bees. A database is a central part of the system, storing data from different investigations conducted by a network of researchers and research groups. That includes data from bee species, plant species visited by the bees, and a great deal of other information on their behavior and characteristics. It also includes data collected automatically by data loggers and by a weather station in several experiments on thermoregulation and flight activity of the colonies. Data is stored in different formats such as texts, photos and videos. The system can be accessed on the Internet with a simple Web browser and was implemented with a MySQL DBMS, Apache Web server and PHP scripts. Developed initially to hold the information from one research group, it was afterwards proposed as a platform for the integration of the information of different groups, forming an information network. Currently groups from other countries are willing to use it as their platform, configuring it as an international portal on bees. |
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