The ORMEF Database
The ORMEF geoportal capitalizes the ORMEF database (Azzurro et al., 2021; Azzurro
et al., 2022a), i.e. a comprehensive compilation of exotic fish records gathered through
an extensive literature search, which already served several basin scale investigations on
fish invasions (Parravicini et al., 2015; D’Amen & Azzurro, 2020a; 2020b; Azzurro &
D’Amen, 2022, Azzurro et al., 2022b). All records were submitted to a rigorous
validation procedure and checked against the information provided by the original
source. All the historical observations of species included in the ORMEF database were
included, spanning from the earliest documented observation of Pampus argenteus in
1896, to the most recent ones included in the latest version of the database which
extracted data from 670 papers published between 1902–2020.
Today the ORMEF geoportal includes 5015 georeferenced records of occurrence on 188
accepted species of fish, and 83 families, plus the taxon of uncertain identification
Abudefduf cf. saxatilis/vaigiensis/troschelii (Dragičević et al., 2021).
The list of species included in the ORMEF database follows the authoritative CIESM
Atlas of exotic species (Golani et al., 2021) adopting the same terminology. In
agreement with this atlas, we grouped the species according to their presumed
introduction path: EXOTIC CAN = fishes introduced through the Suez Canal; EXOTIC
HM = fishes introduced by other human vectors, such as shipping, mariculture or
aquarium release; NRE (natural range expansion) = fishes of Atlantic origin, which are
supposed to have entered into the Mediterranean through Gibraltar, without direct
assistance of human agency. The ORMEF database therefore includes observations of
Non Indigenous Fishes but also of Atlantic fishes that presumably arrived through the
straits of Gibraltar without the direct assistance of human agency. In agreement with
Golani et al. (2021), we excluded cryptogenic, brackish, and vagrant species from our
list of taxa. Species names were checked with the Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes
(Fricke et al., 2021) taking into account recent taxonomic changes and documented
misidentifications.
The ORMEF GeoPortal
The ORMEF Geoportal, available at https://www.ormef.eu., is a new interactive tool,
which allows exploring the historical occurrences of exotic fishes in the Mediterranean
Sea. It serves the needs of researchers, scholars and MPA managers, but it can be also
accessed by the general public and be used to provide information at the policy level.
The Geoportal has been developed in Java language, using the Spring Boot Framework
(https://spring.io/projects/spring-boot) and following the MVC architectural pattern
(https://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/modelViewController.html).
A
series
of
visualization tools and interactive functions are available from the homepage (Fig. 1),
which provides a first Map of Mediterranean occurrences. Each point record displayed
in the map brings a series of information on the data source, bibliographic reference and
data on the capture or observation. Users could search for species in two different
ways: by keyword or through the map. Searching through keywords, users can land on
the species page where they can find all the related information, e.g. year of the first
record in the Mediterranean, description of the species distribution, records location,
etc. Searching through the map, users can visualize species’ records on the map and
filter the dataset according to different fields:
2nd Mediterranean Symposium on the Non-Indigenous Species (Genoa, Italy, 22-23 September 2022)
14
The ORMEF geoportal capitalizes the ORMEF database (Azzurro et al., 2021; Azzurro
et al., 2022a), i.e. a comprehensive compilation of exotic fish records gathered through
an extensive literature search, which already served several basin scale investigations on
fish invasions (Parravicini et al., 2015; D’Amen & Azzurro, 2020a; 2020b; Azzurro &
D’Amen, 2022, Azzurro et al., 2022b). All records were submitted to a rigorous
validation procedure and checked against the information provided by the original
source. All the historical observations of species included in the ORMEF database were
included, spanning from the earliest documented observation of Pampus argenteus in
1896, to the most recent ones included in the latest version of the database which
extracted data from 670 papers published between 1902–2020.
Today the ORMEF geoportal includes 5015 georeferenced records of occurrence on 188
accepted species of fish, and 83 families, plus the taxon of uncertain identification
Abudefduf cf. saxatilis/vaigiensis/troschelii (Dragičević et al., 2021).
The list of species included in the ORMEF database follows the authoritative CIESM
Atlas of exotic species (Golani et al., 2021) adopting the same terminology. In
agreement with this atlas, we grouped the species according to their presumed
introduction path: EXOTIC CAN = fishes introduced through the Suez Canal; EXOTIC
HM = fishes introduced by other human vectors, such as shipping, mariculture or
aquarium release; NRE (natural range expansion) = fishes of Atlantic origin, which are
supposed to have entered into the Mediterranean through Gibraltar, without direct
assistance of human agency. The ORMEF database therefore includes observations of
Non Indigenous Fishes but also of Atlantic fishes that presumably arrived through the
straits of Gibraltar without the direct assistance of human agency. In agreement with
Golani et al. (2021), we excluded cryptogenic, brackish, and vagrant species from our
list of taxa. Species names were checked with the Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes
(Fricke et al., 2021) taking into account recent taxonomic changes and documented
misidentifications.
The ORMEF GeoPortal
The ORMEF Geoportal, available at https://www.ormef.eu., is a new interactive tool,
which allows exploring the historical occurrences of exotic fishes in the Mediterranean
Sea. It serves the needs of researchers, scholars and MPA managers, but it can be also
accessed by the general public and be used to provide information at the policy level.
The Geoportal has been developed in Java language, using the Spring Boot Framework
(https://spring.io/projects/spring-boot) and following the MVC architectural pattern
(https://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/modelViewController.html).
A
series
of
visualization tools and interactive functions are available from the homepage (Fig. 1),
which provides a first Map of Mediterranean occurrences. Each point record displayed
in the map brings a series of information on the data source, bibliographic reference and
data on the capture or observation. Users could search for species in two different
ways: by keyword or through the map. Searching through keywords, users can land on
the species page where they can find all the related information, e.g. year of the first
record in the Mediterranean, description of the species distribution, records location,
etc. Searching through the map, users can visualize species’ records on the map and
filter the dataset according to different fields:
2nd Mediterranean Symposium on the Non-Indigenous Species (Genoa, Italy, 22-23 September 2022)
14