Summary
To support the work programs of EBA, existing information on taxonomy, species distribution, genetic data etc needs to be readily accessible to solve the broader questions of the Antarctic community. By aggregating core data in portals, users can discover patterns, identify gaps in knowledge and therefore give impetus to future research directions. Data can be re-used for purposes beyond the original intent. Many biological data exchange standards have been designed in the last few years but only a few have been implemented on a global scale. The existing EBA Data portals of SCAR-MarBIN and the EBA terrestrial database currently use the species distribution standard called Darwin Core. Within the next 2 years, additional standards will become mainstream that will allow the integration of collections, taxonomy, species profiles and biodiversity specific metadata. The goal is to allow this to happen without impending the underlying research effort and to make it just a seamless part of the data collecting and publishing process. This poster describes practical steps and guidelines to address this goal and to improve the quality of existing holdings within the SCAR-MarBIN and the EBA Terrestrial database portals.