Researchers create digital database of 1.1 bn natural history objects

More than 1.1 billion natural history objects from 73 major natural history museums and herbaria from 28 countries are now collected into a huge global database.

The database created by global researchers and the museums' staff will help researchers and decision-makers find scientific solutions to global challenges of conservation of endangered wildlife, climate crisis, food insecurity, and preparedness for epidemics, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) which participated the project said in a statement.

The inventory, described in a new article published in the journal Science, includes diverse collections of animal and plant remains of all kinds alongside archaeological and geological findings, Xinhua news agency reported.

The project's organisers subdivided the enormous aggregate collection by creating a unique shared vocabulary for collection types and their geographic source areas.

The result was a grid of 19 collection types by 16 geographic regions, such that any collection object from anywhere in the world would fall into only one of the resulting 304 cells.

The researchers hope with the digital database to catalyse collaborative collection-based efforts to support future global sustainability, biodiversity and climate frameworks.