Vincent Devictor (Author)
Bensaude-Vincent, Bernadette (Author)
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Volume: 38
Issue: 4
Pages: 13
This paper is a critical assessment of the epistemological impact of the systematic quantification of nature with the accumulation of big datasets on the practice and orientation of ecological science. We examine the contents of big databases and argue that it is not just accumulated information; records are translated into digital data in a process that changes their meanings. In order to better understand what is at stake in the ‘datafication’ process, we explore the context for the emergence and quantification of biodiversity in the 1980s, along with the concept of the global environment. In tracing the origin and development of the global biodiversity information facility (GBIF) we describe big data biodiversity projects as a techno-political construction dedicated to monitoring a new object: the global diversity. We argue that, biodiversity big data became a powerful driver behind the invention of the concept of the global environment, and a way to embed ecological science in the political agenda.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Ayres, P.G.;
(2012)
Shaping Ecology: The Life of Arthur Tansley
Article
Nikisianis, Nikos;
George P. Stamou, ;
(2011)
Quantifying Nature: Ideological Representations in the Concept of Diversity
Article
Köhler, Piotr;
(2002)
Publikacje botaniczne Towarzystwa Naukowego Krakowskiego, Akademii Umiejętności i Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności a badania bioróżnorodności flory polski
Book
Federico Boem;
(2023)
Pensare per mappe. Ontologie per una pratica scientifica
Article
Antoine C. Dussault;
(2018)
Functional ecology's non-selectionist understanding of function
Chapter
Shayit, Ayelet;
Griesemer, James;
(2011)
Mind the Gaps: Why Are Niche Construction Models So Rarely Used?
Book
Donato Bergandi;
(2013)
The Structural Links between Ecology, Evolution and Ethics: The Virtuous Epistemic Circle
Article
Simberloff, Daniel;
(2012)
Integrity, Stability, and Beauty: Aldo Leopold's Evolving View of Nonnative Species
Article
Lázaro Guevara;
(2021)
The legacy of the fieldwork of E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman in Mexico (1892–1906) for research on poorly known mammals
Book
Ayres, Peter G.;
(2012)
Shaping Ecology: The Life of Arthur Tansley
Book
Maclaurin, James;
Sterelny, Kim;
(2008)
What Is Biodiversity?
Book
Farnham, Timothy J.;
(2007)
Saving Nature's Legacy: Origins of the Idea of Biological Diversity
Book
West, Paige;
(2006)
Conservation is Our Government Now: The Politics of Ecology in Papua New Guinea
Article
Toly, Noah J.;
(2004)
Globalization and the Capitalization of Nature: A Political Ecology of Biodiversity in Mesoamerica
Book
Eleana J. Kim;
(2022)
Making Peace with Nature: Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ
Book
Stephen Humphrey;
(2023)
Paths of Pollen
Article
Reuss, Martin;
Bernhardtb, Emily;
Bunna, Stuart E.;
Hartc, David D.;
Björn Malmqvistd, Timo Muotkae;
Naimanf, Robert J.;
Pringleg, Catherine;
Wilgeni, Brian van;
(2006)
Perspective: The Challenge of Ecologically Sustainable Water Management
Book
Hallam Stevens;
Sarah S. Richardson;
(2015)
Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology after the Genome
Article
Rebecca Lemov;
(2017)
Anthropology’s Most Documented Man, Ca. 1947: A Prefiguration of Big Data from the Big Social Science Era
Article
M. Susan Lindee;
(2020)
First Peoples of the Atomic Age: Finding New Kinds of Data in the Biobanks of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation
Be the first to comment!