In a global first, Thomson Ecology – the UK’s leading ecology specialist – has become the only organisation in the world to be able to access and integrate the world’s leading marine species classification data list into their own software and redistribute it to clients and other organisations around the world.
The five year agreement with the World Register for Marine Species (WoRMS) puts Thomson Ecology at the forefront of marine data management, giving them full access to the global classification of about 220,000 marine species. The WoRMS list is the only expert-validated inventory of marine species of the world.
Welcoming the news, Nancy Thomson, Managing Director of Thomson Ecology said:
“This agreement marks a new step forward for us as we start to look at markets worldwide. The benefits of access to this new data through our software packages will be felt across the marine community where the quality of data is imperative for accurate analysis. The efficient achievement of quality data can make or break the viability of projects.”
Mark Costello, chair of the WoRMS Steering Committee and a founding member of the Society for the Management of Electronic Biodiversity Data (SMEBD), which holds the intellectual property rights for the WoRMS database, is equally pleased to see this agreement in place:
“We believe that making the WoRMS list available, and regularly updated, through software tools in the marine field will have a positive impact on the quality of scientific reporting. WoRMS content is already freely available to anybody from the website, but Thomson Ecology provide added value to users by incorporating it within their desk-top software for users. The income generated for WoRMS by Thomson Ecology will help us to improve the quality, scope and sustainability of the database, in service of the scientific community. ”
