[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 187 (Monday, September 28, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51586-51588]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-25819]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Geological Survey


Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC); Public Comment on the 
Proposal to Develop the ``Biological Nomenclature and Taxonomy Data 
Standard'' as a Federal Geographic Data Committee Standard

ACTION: Notice; Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FGDC is soliciting public comments on the proposal to 
develop a ``Biological Nomenclature and Taxonomy Data Standard.'' If 
the proposal is approved, the standard will be developed following the 
FGDC standards development and approval process and will be considered 
for adoption by the FGDC.
    In its assigned federal leadership role in the development of the 
National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the Committee recognizes 
that FGDC standards must also meet the needs and recognize the views of 
State and local governments, academia, industry, and the public. The 
purpose of this notice is to solicit such views. The FGDC invites the 
community to review the proposal and comment on the objectives, scope, 
approach, and usability of the proposed standard; identify existing 
related standards; and indicate their interest in

[[Page 51587]]

participating in the development of the standard.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 15, 1998.

CONTACT and ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted via Internet mail or 
by submitting electronic copy on diskette. Send comments via internet 
to: www.fgdc.gov">gdc-taxpro@www.fgdc.gov.
    A soft copy version, on a 3.5 x 3.5 diskette in WordPerfect 5.0 or 
6.0/6.1 format, along with one hardcopy version of the comments may be 
sent to the FGDC Secretariat (attn: Jennifer Fox) at U.S. Geological 
Survey, 590 National Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, 
Virginia, 20192.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Following is the complete proposal for the 
``Biological Nomenclature and Taxonomy Data Standard''.
    Project Title: Development of a Biological Nomenclature and 
Taxonomy Data Standard.
    Date of Proposal: June 3, 1998.
    Submitting Organization: FGDC Biological Data Working Group.
    Point of Contact: Barbara Lamborne, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Washington, D.C. (202) 260-3643 [email protected].
    Ojbectives: The objectives are to provide a standardized, 
comprehensive, and consistent reference of scientific names 
(nomenclature) and associated classification (taxonomy) for biological 
species. This comprehensive standard will thus support the 
coordination, discovery, comparison, exchange, organization and 
integration of biological data among different government and non-
government agencies, organizations, and individuals. The standard will 
be based on the cooperative activities of many groups (including 
several federal agencies) that are maintaining active programs in 
developing standardized credible nomenclatures and taxonomies for 
specific biological groups of interest to meet their respective 
missions. This data standard will also link to and support the 
implementation of the existing FGDC Vegetation Classification Standard, 
FGDC Wetlands Classification Standard, and the proposed Biological 
Profile of the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, 
as well other biologically oriented standards, by serving as the 
accepted standard reference for biological nomenclature and taxonomy 
for these standards.
    Scope: This standard will focus on providing a standardized and 
consistent reference for scientific names (including scientific 
synonyms and common names) and taxonomy for plant, animal, fungal, 
moneran and protist species. The standard should be used to support the 
discovery, comparison, exchange, organization and integration of any 
biological data (or related information product) that includes 
scientific names of species (or higher taxonomic groups) as part of its 
data structure.
    Justification/Benefits: Most biological data sets include some data 
on the scientific names (nomenclature) and/common (vernacular) names 
and associated classification (taxonomy) of the species and/or higher 
taxonomic groups (genera, familities, etc.) which are the focus of the 
data set. Due to the long scientific history and inherent complexity of 
the science of payments, many species have been assigned two or more 
different scientific names and associated classifications by different 
specialists. The application of common names to organisms is even less 
consistent and thus more complex. This relatively common situation 
obviously makes it difficult to locate, compare, share, exchange, and 
integrate biological data among different agencies and organizations in 
an accurate and efficient manner. Therefore, a key element in fostering 
development of a distributed federal of biological data and information 
through the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (and the complementary 
National Biological Information Infrastructure) is the availability of 
a comprehensive, standardized reference for biological nomenclature and 
taxonomy that can be used by anyone interested in locating, comparing, 
exchanging, and integrating two or more biolocial data sets. This 
proposed standard will provide a consistent reference of the 
``accepted'' scientific names for biological species, together with 
synoynyms and common names. Users will thus be able to rely upon this 
standard reference to determine the accepted scientific name which then 
can be used to compare, relate, exchange and/or integrate biological 
data that may use different scientific or common names for the same 
species.
    The proposed standard will also serve as the source of scientific 
nomenclature and taxonomy for the existing FGDC Vegetation 
Classification Standard, FGDC Wetlands Classification Standard, and for 
the proposed Biological Profile of the FGDC geospatial metadata content 
standard. It will thus support the further implementation of these FGDC 
standards efforts.
    Development Approach: Currently, six Federal agencies 
(Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, Agricultural Research Service, Natural Resources 
Conservation Service, the United States Geological Survey, and the 
Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History) are 
participating in the development and operation of the Integrated 
Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), a WWW-accessible database of 
scientific names and taxonomy for biota (http://www.itis.usda.gov/
itis).
    ITIS relies on the continuance of independently-funded, scientific 
activities of various agencies, organizations, and institutions to 
contribute reliable data that are complaint with ITIS standards. 
Through this federation of scientific entities agreeing to work 
together through common standards, the creation and maintenance of a 
standardized, comprehensive taxonomic reference for the Nation is 
possible. It is inherent in the adoption of ITIS as the biological 
nomenclature and taxonomic standard that the FGDC and its members 
recognize the data contributors to ITIS, particularly supporting U.S. 
Federal projects such as the PLANTS database of USDA, which has 
previously been recognized as an FGDC standard.
    ITIS was endorsed as a national-level standard in the National 
Performance Review/Government Information Technology Services Board 
recent report ``Access America--Reengineering Through Information 
Technology''. The report recommends ``Implementing the national-level 
standards that are needed to support greater sharing and use of 
biological information'' and broadening the ITIS community of partners.
    The FGDC Biological Data Working Group will work with an 
interagency project team representing the ITIS Federal partner agencies 
to develop a draft FGDC data standard, based on the consideration of 
the existing ITIS system as the possible ``foundation'' for this 
standard. The draft standard then will be submitted by the Biological 
Data Working Group to the FGDC Standards Working Group for review and 
approval prior to being distributed for full public review.
    Development and Completion Schedule: The Biological Data Working 
Group will ask ITIS Federal agency partners to form an ad hoc standards 
project team to begin development of the draft data standard as soon as 
the initial public review of the standards proposal is completed. It is 
expected that development of a draft data standard will take the 
standards project team approximately 3 full months, with another 2 
months for the FGDC Biological Data Working Group to review and revise 
the work of the standards project team as needed. The Biological Data 
Working Group will

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then submit the draft standard to the Standards Working Group for 
review and approval before release of the standard for the requisite 
90-day public review period. Following public review, the standard 
project team will evaluate and summarize all comments received, make 
the necessary revisions to the standards, and prepare the final draft 
for submission to the Standards Working Group, via the Biological Data 
Working Group. It is expected that the standard could be completed and 
approved by the FGDC Committee within approximately 10-12 months from 
the time the Standards Working Group approves this standards proposal.
    Resources Required: The members of the FGDC Biological Data Working 
Group, working with the standards project team comprised of 
representatives of the ITIS Federal agency partners, have adequate 
resources (primarily staff time) available to support development of 
the standard. If there is interest on the part of NSGIC and/or the 
National Association of Counties (or other FGDC collaborating groups or 
organizations) in attending and participating in meetings of the FGDC 
Biological Data Working Group focused on development of the proposed 
data standard, it is possible that FGDC funds may be needed to help 
defray travel costs for these non-Federal participants.
    Potential Participants: The FGDC Biological Data Working Group 
includes representatives of eight different Federal agencies, plus The 
Nature Conservancy. The ITIS partnership includes six different U.S. 
Federal agencies, plus biological scientists from other government 
agencies, natural history museums, universities, and international 
organizations. ITIS has recently expanded its partnership to include 
the Canadian government. This diverse group of existing participants 
will be enhanced during the standards development process by an 
aggressive ``outreach'' campaign to enlist the participation and input 
of other agencies, organizations, and individuals with expertise, 
responsibilities, and/or interests in the area of biological 
nomenclature and taxonomy and biological data exchange.
    Related Standards: The proposed standard related directly to and 
will support full implementation of the FGDC Vegetation Classification 
Standard and the proposed Biological Profile of the FGDC metadata 
content standard. It also relates to the FGDC Wetlands Classification 
Standard.
    Other Targeted Authorization Bodies: This proposed standard is not 
currently targeted for consideration by any other authorizing bodies. 
Because of its direct linkage to the FGDC Vegetation Classification 
Standard and FGDC metadata content standard (through the proposed 
Biological Profile), it is anticipated that the proposed standard (once 
approved by the FGDC) potentially could be ``linked'' with either or 
both of these FGDC standards in any subsequent review and authorization 
of these standards by ANSI, ISO, or other group.

    Dated: September 3, 1998.
Richard E. Witmer,
Chief, National Mapping Division.
[FR Doc. 98-25819 Filed 9-25-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-Y7-M