A
Global Species Database (
GSD) is a digital catalog of
organisms often defined around a
conservation purpose for the organisms of interest. GSDs attempt to be globally inclusive of
species within their inclusion parameters versus local species databases. GSDs have a defined purpose, SPECIESDAB is a GSD for economically valuable fish species, while
FishBase focuses on fin fish regardless of their human potential for exploitation. Attempts have been made to create GSDs for extinct species such as trilobites. A GSD can be broad in
taxonomic scope, such as
AlgaeBase comprehensively including
algae and
seagrasses from the entire planet, or narrow such as International Legume Database & Information Service, a GSD for members of a single plant family, the
Fabaceae.