"Biological diversity" means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems [CBD – Convention on Biological Diversity].
The goal of Biodiversity Informatics is to provide access and maximize use and reuse of relevant data sources, analytical and modeling tools, as well as visualization components for Biodiversity research. Therefore key components of Biodiversity Informatics address:

• Technology assisted systematic gathering / collection of data
• Prompt and easy access to relevant information (data and analysis), requiring interoperability and integration across formats (syntax) and concepts (semantics)
• Conceptual and computational framework for advanced modeling and analysis (e.g. complex ecosystems)
• Visualization and communication of analysis results and scenarios

That means that many valuable components can be sourced from and shared with other science disciplines (e.g. statistical analysis, Geographic Information Systems – mapping and graphics).

Future perspectives:
Linking complex systems research and 'models of computation' for comprehensive ecosystem modeling - continuos-time / discrete-event, periodic, dynamic / asynchrounous / synchronous (reactive) data flows and message-passing, component interaction (push/pull).
Classification, feature extraction and data mining on spatiotemporal data integrated by Geodesic Global Grids.

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