D3.2 – Final ontology design and development

This document presents the final versions of the ontologies developed in the MAREGRAPH project. These ontologies are essential for representing data from both the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and the European Ocean Biodiversity Information System (EurOBIS) according to the Linked Open Data paradigm, thereby significantly enhancing semantic  interoperability for identified high-value data.

This document builds upon Deliverable D3.1, which introduced only the preliminary versions of ontologies designed for WoRMS and covering key aspects related to taxonomy and scientific nomenclature of marine species and related information. Here, we offer a selfcontained deliverable detailing all ontology development within MAREGRAPH. Specifically, it outlines the changes applied to the ontologies previously described in D3.1, and introduces a brand-new ontology called Marine Observations. This new ontology focuses on observations in the biodiversity domain, including the occurrence of organisms, as basis for capturing the informative content of EurOBIS’ datasets.

Additionally, this deliverable introduces SHACL shapes defined for each ontology module for validation purposes. SHACL shapes are constraints applied to RDF graphs that can be used to verify whether instances of the ontologies adhere to specific application-dependent constraints. SHACL shapes are, in fact, a well-established method for defining application 
profiles, which are specifications describing how a standard can be applied to targeted applications.

In essence, the MAREGRAPH network of ontologies currently comprises five domain-specific OWL ontology modules and a top-level OWL ontology. The top-level ontology serves to link various domain entities and to define entities that are domain-independent but crucial for fulfilling modelling requirements. This top-level ontology, extended as described herein, is based on well-known foundational ontologies such as DOLCE.

Finally, a reference example of Linked Open Data for EurOBIS data is provided, mirroring the approach taken in D3.1 (and also part of this document) with data from WoRMS. As with the previously described ontologies, all versions are publicly available on the project’s GitHub repository dedicated to semantic assets: https://github.com/MareGraph-EU/assets. While this deliverable provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the ontologies and related semantic assets, it is important to note that these artifacts are living resources that may evolve over time. Updates may be introduced to accommodate emerging requirements, address new use cases, or incorporate feedback from their application in realworld scenarios. As such, the GitHub repository should be considered the authoritative source for the most up-to-date versions and ongoing development of these semantic assets.