For future biodiversity studies relying on species
identification, environmental officers and researchers will only be left
with monographic descriptions and collections in museums. This is
why a knowledge base on the zooxanthellate scleractinian corals of
the Mascarene Archipelago is being developed. This project offers
results for both biologists/taxonomists and students or MPA-teams.
Two online computer-based applications permit to identify genera
and species. The first identification tool, called Xper², was developed
by LIS (Informatic and Systematics Laboratory) in Paris, and is used
for identifications to genera. The second tool, named IKBS (Iterative
Knowledge Base System), was developed by IREMIA (Institute
for Research in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science) in
La Réunion, and is used for identifications from families to species. The
tools presently work for Astrocoeniidae, Pocilloporidae, Acroporidae
(only Acropora + Isopora), Psammocoridae, Siderastreidae (owns
Psammocoridae as genera), Fungiidae, Poritidae, Faviidae Faviinae,
Faviidae Montastreinae, Mussidae. We plan to start a new phase to
add the last families, fully translate the web site in English and extend
the Xper² identification to all the western Indian Ocean genera.
