Santa Cruz

Seal the deal: the new project aims to persuade animal biologists to contribute their tagging data. Credit: D. COSTA

Decades of raw data on the movements and diving behaviour of dolphins, whales, seals and other marine animals could soon be made available in an online database.

Leading figures in the field met last month to start laying plans for this resource. “Basically, we are trying to make a GenBank for diving data on marine mammals,” says Dan Costa, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Researchers have been using time–depth recorders (TDRs) to track the movement of ocean mammals since the 1960s. TDRs adhere to an animal's back for days or weeks and then float to the surface for recovery. More recently, satellite transmitters that provide information on latitude and longitude have also become available. As they have become smaller and cheaper, the number of researchers using them has mushroomed.

Recently, tags have shown where blue whales feed and calve (B. A. Lagerquist, K. M. Stafford & B. R. Mate Mar. Mamm. Sci. 16, 375–391; 2000) and revealed the remarkable diving ability of seals and sea lions (D. P. Costa, N. J. Gales & M. E. Goebel Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A 129, 771–783; 2001).

Some of the data are already stored in public databases, but the vast majority are analysed once and then shelved. Placing them in a publicly accessible database would help biologists who want to develop a more complete picture of ocean ecosystems.

But several hurdles remain, not least convincing marine biologists to release their data. Standards for organizing data will also be needed to allow searching and comparison of different tracking and dive records.

To make a start on these issues, Costa and his postdoc Scott Shaffer gathered 45 marine biologists in Santa Cruz. Participants agreed on the utility of a data archive, but few are likely to contribute data they have not yet published.

“Investigators want to know they will have first dibs,” says Bruce Mate, a whale biologist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center of Oregon State University in Newport.

So, rather than collecting tracking data as it is generated, the archive will, at least initially, be restricted to data from published studies. The resulting lag time of a year or two from data acquisition to its appearance in the archive will not be a serious problem, Mate argues, because the database's main value will be in providing access to information that is currently unavailable. Published papers contain only data summaries.

Data comparison will also be a challenge. There are several manufacturers of TDRs, and their products record essentially the same information but in different formats. Researchers may also calibrate instruments differently, setting them up to record only longer dives, for example, something that would have to be indicated in the database.

Although the archive will deal initially with marine mammals, the goal is to expand it to include other groups. Fish and seabird researchers are keen to join in, says Barbara Block, also at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who tags a range of marine vertebrates including tuna, albatrosses and turtles.

Costa's first step will be to set up a website detailing what data have been collected and where they are held. He also plans to develop a formal proposal for funding, possibly for submission to the US Office of Naval Research, which backed last month's meeting.