Objectives 1. Create a prioritised list of candidate datasets for integration 2. Make data inter-operable, and assist data owners in contributing data to MarBEF 3. Assist in quality control and standardisation; create standard lists of taxonomy and geography to support this QA/QC 4. Data archaeology and rescue: make data available in electronic form, that are currently only available in less-accessible formats. Description of work 1. Create and populate metadatabase containing information on biogeographical datasets 2. Propose standards for exchange of taxonomic and biogeographic data, in consultation with ENBI, Species 2000 Europe, OBIS and GBIF; make these standards widely available in the MarBEF community, and support partners in deploying the software tools implementing these standards 3. Apply proposed standards to datasets that are available in electronic form, make datasets available through the MarBEF data portal 4. Propose standards for quality control and assessment, in collaboration with Taxonomic Clearing System and Quality Control workpackages. 5. Apply standards for quality control and assessment; describe the quality of the data available through the MarBEF dataportal 6. Identify suitable candidate datasets for data rescue, using the inventory resulting from task 1 as a tool; discuss priorities through e-conference 7. Make candidate datasets for data rescue available in electronic format, and through the MarBEF data portal 8. Make data from MarBEF data portal available to IOBIS and GBIF; use software tools to exchange data between EurOBIS and OBIS and to keep data synchronized; use internationally accepted protocols to establish communication between data systems 9. Expand and update the European Register of Marine Species; identify consortium of taxonomists to maintain the contents of the database; supplement taxonomic information with new types of information, such as presence/absence in country/area, trophic level and feeding type; identify suitable areas for the distribution information through e-conference; identify new types of information through e-conference.