The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology's digital databases.

Area of Science:

• Palaeontology and Earth Sciences
• Digital Data Management
• Macroevolutionary Studies

Background:

• Openly accessible, community-driven databases have revolutionized palaeontology.
• These databases underpin large-scale studies of life's history and macroevolutionary patterns.
• Significant global scientific and financial investment is required to maintain these critical resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey the diversity dynamics and lifespans of palaeontological and Earth science databases.
• To analyze trends in database creation effort and identify factors contributing to database loss.
• To advocate for strategies that enhance the longevity of scientific databases.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a survey of 118 palaeontological and allied Earth science databases.
• Analyzed database diversity dynamics, including origination and extinction rates.
• Examined trends in database creation effort over the past 30 years and correlated database loss with funding cycles.

Main Results:

• Approximately 85% of community-curated databases have lifespans under 15 years.
• Database creation effort has increased in the last three decades.
• Peaks in database loss correlate with 5-year funding cycles, jeopardizing long-term data investment.

Conclusions:

• The short lifespan of scientific databases poses a significant risk to decades of investment and research.
• Strategies for enhancing database longevity are urgently needed.
• Recommendations include sustained funding models, robust institutional support, and modular architectures for better data integration.