Introduction

WorldFAIR Initiative

The WorldFAIR project, led by CODATA, the Committee on Data of the International Science Council (ISC), and partnered with Research Data Alliance(RDA), and others, focuses on advancing the FAIR principles across 11 disciplinary and cross-disciplinary case studies. It aims to enhance the interoperability and reusability of digital research objects, emphasizing the creation of interoperability frameworks for each case study and research domain.

This initiative seeks to provide recommendations, interoperability frameworks, and guidelines for assessing FAIR data. With CODATA and RDA leading the effort, the project collaborates with several authoritative international bodies and institutions with global reach, ensuring broad implementation and impactful outcomes.

Starting in June 2022, the project concentrates on case studies spanning various scientific fields and cultural heritage sectors. By tailoring FAIR Implementation Profiles to each discipline, it aims to develop comprehensive insights into best practices and emerging solutions for FAIR data within these domains.

The Agriculture-related pollinator data standards use case

Plant-pollinator interactions data are fragmented across various networks and country-specific initiatives, hindering broader analysis. The need for standardized practices and data integration at global levels is urgent for meaningful pattern analysis and understanding at relevant biological scales. To address this, adopting community data standards for pollination is crucial.

The Agriculture-related pollinator data standards use case aims to foster alignment with agricultural data initiatives in Europe and globally, promoting FAIR data principles in plant-pollinator data management. It involves surveying existing initiatives, assessing best practices, and adapting FAIR assessment rubrics for this domain. Five agriculture-specific initiatives will pilot data standards adoption. This effort is led by Embrapa, working together with the RDA Improving Global Agricultural Data (IGAD) Community of Practice and partners in the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) Biological Interactions Data Interest Group to advance adoption and improve data representation.

Despite pollination’s crucial role, scattered and inaccessible data hinder conservation efforts. Representing biotic interactions like pollination poses specific challenges. Current biodiversity data standards lack adequate representation, necessitating FAIR vocabularies for plant-pollinator interactions. Addressing these challenges is essential for global food production and security.

This guide outlines projects, tools, and best practices for managing plant-pollinator interactions data, intending to create guidelines aligned with FAIR principles. Examining methods and platforms used for data sharing, it identifies opportunities for enhancing data mobilization and improving current practices. This work aims to enhance data interoperability for plant-pollinator interactions, aligning with broader efforts to develop a Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework in the WorldFAIR project.

Target audiences

This guide has been developed for multiple target audiences:

• data authors who seek for assistance and recommendations on how to share plant-pollinator interactions data,

• biodiversity data specialists who are new to biotic interactions data,

• software developers who are new to FAIR principles and biotic interactions data,

• data authors, biodiversity data specialists and software developers who are new to FAIR Principles.

License

The document Guidelines and Recommendations for Publishing Agricultural-related pollinator data is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License.

Authors

• Debora Pignatari Drucker, Embrapa Agricultura Digital, Brazil

• Filipi Miranda Soares, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

• Jeff Ollerton, University of Northampton (UK) and Kunming Institute of Botany (China)

• Jorrit H. Poelen, Global Biotic Interactions, United States

• José Augusto Salim, University of Campinas, Brazil

• Rocío A. González-Vaquero, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Suggested citation

Salim, JA; Drucker, DP; González-Vaquero, RA; Soares, FM; Poelen, JH, Ollerton, J (2023) Guidelines and Recommendations for Publishing Agricultural-related pollinator data, v1.0. WorldFAIR Initiative. https://rebipp.github.io/worldfair-agrobio

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