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Seeing Atolls as a System: Inside the First Fully Integrated Indo-Pacific Atoll Dataset
If you work in ecology, conservation, island biogeography, or environmental data—and you’ve ever struggled to connect biodiversity, climate, oceanography, and human history across small islands—this episode is for you.
We take a deep dive into a landmark effort to harmonize data for all 310 Indo-Pacific atolls with permanent emergent land, transforming decades of scattered literature, field surveys, satellite products, and historical records into a single, integrated, machine-readable resource. Led by Frontiers Planet Prize national champion Sebastian Stiebel and an international team spanning academia and conservation organizations, this project represents a foundational shift in how atolls can be studied—not as isolated case studies, but as a connected system.
The dataset synthesizes over 4,200 species records from 677 sources, standardized across 90 environmental, biological, and contextual variables. It combines terrestrial biodiversity inventories, seabird population estimates, climate and oceanographic drivers, reef and land habitat classifications, human population data, and a uniquely detailed layer on historical military land use—capturing legacy impacts that often shape present-day ecological outcomes but are rarely included in large-scale models.
What makes this resource especially powerful is how it’s delivered. Rather than a static download, the data is available through an interactive, FAIR²-certified portal, designed to be immediately usable by both researchers and machines. By prioritizing AI readiness and responsible reuse, the project removes long-standing barriers between ecological data and predictive modeling.
We also discuss the realities and limitations of working with historical sources—uneven sampling, taxonomic gaps, and the impossibility of retroactively standardizing past fieldwork—and why acknowledging those constraints is essential for responsible analysis. Even so, this dataset establishes a long-needed baseline for comparative research, conservation planning, and data-driven forecasting across one of the world’s most fragile and important ecosystems.
If you’re interested in moving from descriptive ecology to predictive conservation—and in understanding how climate, biodiversity, and human history intersect across remote island systems—this episode is for you.
Steibl S, Burnett MW, Holmes ND, Wegmann AS and Russell JC (2025). Atoll biodiversity and environments: an AI-ready, interactive data portal for Indo-Pacific atolls. Front. Environ. Sci. , section Environmental Informatics and Remote Sensing.
Data article: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1723851
FAIR² Data portal: https://doi.org/10.71728/senscience.4f2j-8h1k
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit senscience.substack.com
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By SenscienceIf you work in ecology, conservation, island biogeography, or environmental data—and you’ve ever struggled to connect biodiversity, climate, oceanography, and human history across small islands—this episode is for you.
We take a deep dive into a landmark effort to harmonize data for all 310 Indo-Pacific atolls with permanent emergent land, transforming decades of scattered literature, field surveys, satellite products, and historical records into a single, integrated, machine-readable resource. Led by Frontiers Planet Prize national champion Sebastian Stiebel and an international team spanning academia and conservation organizations, this project represents a foundational shift in how atolls can be studied—not as isolated case studies, but as a connected system.
The dataset synthesizes over 4,200 species records from 677 sources, standardized across 90 environmental, biological, and contextual variables. It combines terrestrial biodiversity inventories, seabird population estimates, climate and oceanographic drivers, reef and land habitat classifications, human population data, and a uniquely detailed layer on historical military land use—capturing legacy impacts that often shape present-day ecological outcomes but are rarely included in large-scale models.
What makes this resource especially powerful is how it’s delivered. Rather than a static download, the data is available through an interactive, FAIR²-certified portal, designed to be immediately usable by both researchers and machines. By prioritizing AI readiness and responsible reuse, the project removes long-standing barriers between ecological data and predictive modeling.
We also discuss the realities and limitations of working with historical sources—uneven sampling, taxonomic gaps, and the impossibility of retroactively standardizing past fieldwork—and why acknowledging those constraints is essential for responsible analysis. Even so, this dataset establishes a long-needed baseline for comparative research, conservation planning, and data-driven forecasting across one of the world’s most fragile and important ecosystems.
If you’re interested in moving from descriptive ecology to predictive conservation—and in understanding how climate, biodiversity, and human history intersect across remote island systems—this episode is for you.
Steibl S, Burnett MW, Holmes ND, Wegmann AS and Russell JC (2025). Atoll biodiversity and environments: an AI-ready, interactive data portal for Indo-Pacific atolls. Front. Environ. Sci. , section Environmental Informatics and Remote Sensing.
Data article: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2025.1723851
FAIR² Data portal: https://doi.org/10.71728/senscience.4f2j-8h1k
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit senscience.substack.com