The development of the Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal has been made possible by a grant from the Darwin Plus Local funding scheme. The main aim of the project is to develop a new cloud-based portal related to Gibraltar biodiversity, where disparate, scattered resources created and managed by a variety of stakeholders including researchers, groups, organisations, policy makers and the public are brought together through a single interface.
This Portal, in turn, acts as a finding aid for that same broad range of potential users, both locally and internationally. The Pilot phase has been completed and achieved its objective of creating a fully functioning cloud-based Portal developed, designed, populated, and launched within the Darwin funding scheme six-month timeframe.
The Portal shines a light on otherwise hard-to-find ‘hidden gems’ and showcases the wealth of information available on the biodiversity of The Rock. By increasing awareness of these resources and the individuals and organisations that hold them, the portal facilitates information accrual and exchange and has the potential to spark new networks, collaborations and communities of practice amongst geographically distant partners.
The GBP completed its feasibility stage at the end of March 2025 and progressed to a scaling-up phase.
Nell Cava, Project Officer (left) and Caroline Moss-Gibbons, Project Lead (right) at Parsons Lodge for the Gibraltar World Wildlife Day 2025 event.
Photo credit: Leon Leanse
Project Lead: Caroline Moss-Gibbons, Parasol Librarian at the University of Gibraltar (UoG).
Project Officers: Nell Cava, former Marine Science and Climate Change Masters student at UoG; Kian Khalilian, music teacher and local botanist.
Funders: Darwin Plus. Project ref. DPL00109.
Gibraltar is rich with biodiversity research, from centuries old to the current day. The information takes a wide variety of forms and is contained in numerous digital and physical collections, both within and beyond Gibraltar’s borders.
Resource discovery is the bedrock of research, yet many excellent and unique materials remain ‘hidden’ unless they are indexed somewhere for researchers to find. The GBP shines a light on these resources, bringing them together in a free-to-use readily searchable and navigable cloud-based Portal.
The Portal also covers lesser known, undigitised resources such as botanical collections, physical objects, heritage items and rare books. Along with detailed descriptions of the items themselves, users are also given key contact information relating to the holding institution and/or individuals responsible for those resources, enabling researchers across the globe to connect with other researchers about their incredible collections and facilitating the growth of new knowledge-sharing networks and communities of practice.
An original botanical watercolour of the invasive Oxalis pes-caprae (formerly known as Oxalis Cernua) from 1876 which notes the plant’s already ubiquitous nature. Bound volume of watercolours by artist Madalene Sabine Pasley held in the collection of the Gibraltar Garrison Library.
Photo credit: Nell Cava, University of Gibraltar, Parasol Library.
Project diagram
The development of the Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal includes a rigorous and ongoing research phase-depth systematic cataloguing and indexing using sector-specific standards such as the Darwin Core Biodiversity vocabulary, international taxonomy and habitat authorities, and established database design principles for optimal discoverability and retrieval.
A central component of the project is resource discovery. This includes comprehensive reviews of Gibraltar-specific databases, such as HM Government of Gibraltar’s ‘Laws of Gibraltar’ collection and GBG and GONHS’ collaborative ‘Flora and Funga of Gibraltar’ dataset. The Portal also includes details of site visits to local institutions such as the Gibraltar Garrison Library, GBG, and GONHS libraries, all of whom hold significant physical collections. Finally, it taps into the personal knowledge of local experts, who generously share the resources they have discovered and created over the years.
The Portal distinguishes itself from standard catalogues through detailed descriptive entries that significantly enhance its value as a finding aid. Every word in every entry is fully searchable, including the content of any attached files. Many entries are linked to items with similar or matching keywords and traits. Thesaural fields enable consistent keywording and create multilevel networks of relevant resources. Catalogue entries undergo a meticulous process from detailed creation, internal review in a development area by a local Administrator or the Project Lead before final approval and publication to the ‘live’ Portal. Although creating individual entries with this depth and breadth of detail is time-consuming, the resulting increased accessibility and amount of information that can be conveyed to researchers is considerable.
The Project Team participated in an outreach event for Gibraltar’s World Wildlife Day 2025 and held a virtual launch and feedback event for key Gibraltar-based researchers.
The Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal feasibility project was generously supported by a grant from the Darwin Plus Local Funding scheme for biodiversity related projects in the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs).
The University of Gibraltar Parasol Library project team worked particularly closely with research colleagues and project partners, Bethany Maxwell (nee Gadd) and Dr Rhian Guillem, from the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens (GBG) and the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS), respectively. They have been particularly involved in the resource discovery aspects and providing insights on what they would expect from a comprehensive and specifically biodiversity themed finding aid for it to be of value to them as researchers.
The positive working relationships established during the feasibility phase of the project continues to develop now that there is a tangible ‘product’ for collaborators to engage with. Individuals in partner organisations have been trained to enter items into the portal development area themselves, building local cataloguing capacity as well as enabling a greater number of resources to be added to the Portal than could be possible by the Project Team alone.
The project includes wide engagement with local stakeholders including individual naturalists whose personal knowledge and expertise provide access to unique materials, including field notes and photographs of local flora and fauna built up over decades. This type of personal material accumulated over time is the most vulnerable to loss. Adding it to the Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal preserves it for posterity and enables researchers locally and internationally to access it alongside more formal materials.
A two-tailed pasha (Charaxes jasius) from the personal collection of a local naturalist.
Photo credit: Matthew Ulliott
Some of the collections included in the Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal, as well as the current ‘Spotlight’ resource and the Recent Additions Feed.
The Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal (GBP) is designed to facilitate access to a wide range of biodiversity information for users beyond researchers – to stakeholders, educators and the broader public. It is a free-to-access cloud-based portal with multiple access points designed to be easily navigable by a wide range of individuals and groups of all ages and levels of expertise. Systematic and extensively linked keywording enables all users to investigate areas of interest on aspects of biodiversity contained within it, as well as individual collections and items.
The flexibility of the portal reflects that valuable biodiversity information comes from multiple source types, not just published academic literature. By including multiple data sources and formats such as personal photographic collections and artworks the portal contributes to a more accessible, inclusive and comprehensive understanding of Gibraltar’s biodiversity.
The establishment of a one-stop-shop for Gibraltar’s biodiversity knowledge means readier access to a wide range of information in Gibraltar that will support a well-informed decision-making process for researchers and government. Decisions require an evidence base, and the portal brings that evidence base together in one place.
Grey literature is often the hardest to identify and find. For example, individual offices and departments within government and institutions commission reports that stay within that office and over time they are forgotten about and become effectively ‘lost’. The Gibraltar Biodiversity portal enables that grey literature across departments to be retrieved in a single search that was not possible before.
Beyond the tangible resource visibility and accessibility benefits of the portal, its development has the added benefit of lessons in database development specific to smaller communities. Throughout the extensive background research and development, the Parasol Library team has learned and documented important lessons that can inform effective knowledge transfer and capacity building to future collaborative projects in the future.
Image of rocky shore, Strait of Gibraltar, and Jebel Musa taken from Europa Point Foreshore.
Photo credit: Nell Cava, University of Gibraltar, Parasol Library.
The East-side sand slopes, one of Gibraltar’s less frequented natural areas. Photo credit: Leslie Linares, local Gibraltarian botanist.
The six-month Gibraltar Biodiversity Portal feasibility project has produced a fully functional, internationally searchable free-ti-use cloud-based finding aide.
Despite the short time scale, the project has accomplished its original aim, with great potential for continued growth.
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