A Specimen-based View of the World Using the Biological Collections Ontology to Model Biodiversity Collections

Application ontologies for biodiversity and biomedical specimen data are being developed within the OBO Foundry framework. Both the Biological Collections Ontology (BCO) and the Ontologized Minimum Information About BIobank data Sharing (OMIABIS) are ontologies rooted in specimens and the need to track, share and query data about specimens. In this paper, we briefly describe the structure of the BCO and the way that it is used to annotate and reason over biodiversity data. We conclude with a discussion of the relationship of the BCO to bio-bank ontologies and areas of potential collaboration through the Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI). Keywords—ontology; biodiversity; specimen; material sample;