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Name of the Research Infrastructure (RI) |
Natural History Archives and Information Network |
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Acronym of the RI |
NATARC |
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Website of the RI |
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Location (address) of the RI |
Vanemuise 46 / 51014 Tartu |
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Scientific domain(s) of the RI |
Earth and Environmental Sciences |
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Type of RI |
Distributed |
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Research Services at the RI
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Sample preparation and handling; Taxonomic collections preservation, processing and analysing service High-resolution scanning and photography; Scanning of plants and entomology objects, up to 600 dpi resolution and max A1 page size; Database storage and data handling; Scientific databases for storing and handling of data; Sample storage and preservation; Archiving and preserving taxonomical objects and samples in collection storage facilities (drawers on rails); Software development; Developing thin-client access portals. |
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Equipment at the RI
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Disk array; Disk storage system for digital archives; Scanner with workstation; Automatic scanner for herbal and entomological collections; Cabinet storage system; System of cabinets and drawers on rails for storing collections and archives. |
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Size
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Number of national users per year:600 Number of European users per year:900 Number of international users per year:900 |
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Year of start of operation (i.e. Status and Status Date) |
Status: Being upgraded Since: 2008 |
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Key words
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Natural history archives, biodiversity information, systematic biology, palaebiology, biologic collections, taxonomy, data network, data repository. |
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Description of the RI
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A central infrastructure for natural history archives, consisting of storage facilities conforming to international standards, and necessary equipment required for the storage, research and recording of the collections in a database. Central to the project and participating centres is a public information system that utilizes most of the existing Estonian biodiversity information for conducting analyses. Among other things, it is indispensable for resolving issues in nature protection, for nature monitoring, discovering changes in ecosystems caused by climate change, and so on. In addition to a digital information system, it is also important to regularly preserve complete organisms or their DNA in the collections. They can be used for analysing temporal changes in ecosystems based on taxa, genes and chemical compounds. |
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Hosting Organisation |
University of Tartu |
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Contact email |
