Managed by the Université de Montréal’s Centre sur la Biodiversité, the Canadensys network brings together the collections of several Canadian universities, botanical gardens and museums, collectively housing tens of millions of specimens.
The mission of Canadensys is to coordinate the networking of data from participating biological collections, and to make them accessible to all through a user-friendly Web environment. Canadensys data are compatible with those of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This compatibility facilitates national and international collaborations and ensures the development of new partnerships related to biodiversity data.
The Data Explorer allows you to filter, view and download all specimens published by Canadensys or other Canadian institutions, as well as to view data collected in Canada but published by institutions in other countries.
The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) enables the publication of data from any institution or collection in Canada. It is a free Open Source web application used to publish biodiversity data. Developed by GBIF with the help of the biodiversity informatics community, including Canadensys, it is the internationally recommended tool for publishing biodiversity data.
Datasets published on the IPT include primary occurrence data (such as specimens), taxonomic lists, resource metadata and/or sampling data.
The GBIF Metabarcoding Data Toolkit (MDT), also developed by GBIF, is a resource enabling the Canadian community to publish metabarcoding data on GBIF via the Canadensys node. It aims to format and share DNA metabarcoding data, such as eDNA, in standard, accessible and interpretable formats for open access publication.
Marion Leménager, data manager, assists researchers and their teams wishing to publish biodiversity data and natural history collections on the IPT, and provides guidance on the use of the DarwinCore format, the standard used to facilitate the sharing of biodiversity information.
Carole Sinou, node manager, handles relations with other North American nodes and the GBIF network, as well as maintains the IT infrastructure (website and tools).
If you would like to publish your data on the Canadensys IPT or MDT, or if you have any questions, please visit the Canadensys website or contact us at canadensys.network@gmail.com.