Global Species Database

A Global Species Database (GSD) is a digital catalog of organisms often defined around a conservation purpose for the organisms of interest.{{cite web|title=Glossary |url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/content/glossary |work=Catalogue of Life |publisher=University of Reading |accessdate=4 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016123517/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/content/glossary |archivedate=October 16, 2012 }} GSDs attempt to be globally inclusive of species within their inclusion parameters versus local species databases. GSDs have a defined purpose, SPECIESDAB is a GSD for economically valuable fish species,{{cite web|title=Knowledge Forum|url=http://www.fao.org/knowledge/documents-detail/en/?dyna_fef%5Buid%5D=115950&type=list|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414193649/http://www.fao.org/knowledge/documents-detail/en/?dyna_fef%5Buid%5D=115950&type=list|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 14, 2013|publisher=Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations|accessdate=4 August 2012}} while FishBase focuses on fin fish regardless of their human potential for exploitation. Attempts have been made to create GSDs for extinct species such as trilobites.{{cite web|last=Adrain|first=J|title=Higher taxa as proxies for species diversity: A Global Species Database of Trilobita|url=https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006AM/finalprogram/abstract_115093.htm|work=GSA 2006 Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 207|publisher=Geological Society of America|accessdate=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235414/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2006AM/finalprogram/abstract_115093.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}} A GSD can be broad in taxonomic scope, such as AlgaeBase comprehensively including algae and seagrasses from the entire planet, or narrow such as International Legume Database & Information Service, a GSD for members of a single plant family, the Fabaceae.{{cite journal|last=Yesson|first=Chris |author2=Brewer, Peter W. |author3=Sutton, Tim |author4=Caithness, Neil |author5=Pahwa, Jaspreet S. |author6=Burgess, Mikhaila |author7=Gray, W. Alec |author8=White, Richard J. |author9=Jones, Andrew C. |author10=Bisby, Frank A. |author11=Culham, Alastair |author12=Beach, James |title=How Global Is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility?|journal=PLOS ONE|year=2007 |volume=2|issue=11|pages=e1124|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0001124|pmid=17987112 |pmc=2043490 |bibcode=2007PLoSO...2.1124Y |doi-access=free }}

A database restricted by geography such as Calflora focusing on California Floristic Province flowering plants and ferns is not a GSD.

The Catalogue of Life links together a number of GSDs of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms, such as FishBase{{cite web|title=WorldFish Center|url=http://www.worldfishcenter.org/resources/fishbase|work=Resources|publisher=The WorldFish Center|accessdate=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809191801/http://www.worldfishcenter.org/resources/fishbase|archive-date=9 August 2012|url-status=dead}} and AlgaeBase, and integrates these at a high level through a single node facilitating ease of access to global species data.{{cite web|title=Glossary |url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/content/glossary |work=Catalogue of Life |publisher=University of Reading |accessdate=4 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016123517/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/content/glossary |archivedate=October 16, 2012 }}