With support from the National Science Foundation, seventeen North American institutions and their collaborators developed the Mammal Networked Information System. The original objectives of MaNIS were to 1) facilitate open access to combined specimen data from a web browser, 2) enhance the value of specimen collections, 3) conserve curatorial resources, and 4) use a design paradigm that can be easily adopted by other disciplines with similar needs. As an NSF-funded initiative, MaNIS has achieved these objectives while avoiding the need for long-term, external maintenance of the network and centralized data management. The MaNIS network provides access to mammal specimen records from a variety of museum collection databases via several equivalent portals (see the MaNIS Network Architecture diagram, below). A portal presents web pages from which a user can send requests for data and visualize the results. Requests for data pass through provider software installed on computers at the participating institutions. Individual institutions determine which data are made accessible to the public and format their data to agree with the community-determined standard (in this case the Darwin Core). Depending on their individual requirements, institutions may serve data to the public directly from their working collection databases, or they may serve data via a separate public database to which data are periodically migrated. These public databases may be within the same institutions (local snapshot), or they may be hosted at a collaborating institution (hosted snapshot). By participating in MaNIS, institutions also provide data via the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). ... [Information of the supplier]
This educational Web site, designed to serve as a resource for students, teachers, and the general public interested in the biology and identification of mammals in North America, was developed by the External Affairs and Public Programs Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. The resources we make available are derived from the Museum's unparalleled natural history collections, its scientific research, permanent and special exhibits, libraries, and through collaborations with other organizations and individuals with special resources to complement the site. This Web site includes detailed descriptions, images, and distribution ranges for more than 400 mammals native to the North American continent. The primary resources for the site have been based in the continental United States, but as the opportunity occurs, the site will be expanded to complete the species found in Canada and Mexico. ... [Information of the supplier]
