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Symbiota is open-source software for building web portals that manage and publish biodiversity collection data such as herbarium and museum specimens, observations, images, checklists and identification keys. It is released under the GPL-2.0 licence and supported by the Symbiota Support Hub at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute. A “Symbiota portal” is one installation of that software.
What Symbiota is
Symbiota’s own site describes it as open-source biodiversity data management software: a content management system and a tool for exploring biodiversity data, used to build theme-based research portals (symbiota.org, read 2026-11-08). Its GitHub README describes a library of web tools that help biologists establish specimen-based virtual floras and faunas, and its repository description names the data types it handles: collection specimens, observations, images, checklists and keys (github.com/Symbiota/Symbiota, read 2026-11-08).
The project is funded by the US National Science Foundation (the site cites NSF Award 2027654). The Symbiota Support Hub was founded in 2021 as part of iDigBio, with its team at the KU Biodiversity Institute, and offers support, documentation and training workshops; it is also a GBIF Participant Node and provides Spanish-language support for Latin America (symbiota.org/about, read 2026-11-08).
How Symbiota portals are used, by role
The official documentation (docs.symbiota.org, read 2026-11-08; version 3.4 is the latest listed, in English, Spanish and French) is organised by role. That structure is the quickest way to see what the software does in practice.
| Role in the documentation | What the guide covers |
|---|---|
| Collector / Observer | Using a Personal Observations Profile |
| User | Checklists, searching, the map, and downloading data |
| Editor | Adding, editing, annotating, georeferencing and curating records |
| Collection Manager | Managing contacts, publishing to aggregators, and data cleaning |
| Portal Manager | Batch taxa, the geographic thesaurus and historic determinations (listed as under construction) |
On the data-management side, symbiota.org lists data entry from label images, harvesting data from specimen duplicates, batch georeferencing (including across collections), validation and cleaning, progress reports, loan management, and publishing to GBIF and iDigBio. On the exploration side it lists species inventories, interactive identification keys, specimen and field images, taxonomic information, distribution maps and descriptions.
Software, portal, collection and aggregator: four different things
- Symbiota is the software.
- A portal is a site built on that software, usually themed around a region or taxonomic group. The Symbiota site says dozens of portals exist.
- A collection is a body of specimen or observation records managed inside a portal by its collection manager.
- An aggregator such as GBIF or iDigBio is a separate network that receives published data. Symbiota’s site states that it serves more than 12 million occurrence records through GBIF.org.
Related concepts
Symbiota records are most useful once they are shared in standard form. GBIF identifies occurrence records with Darwin Core terms; see our guide to GBIF and the Darwin Core occurrenceID. Taxonomic names behind determinations come from authorities, for example NCBI Taxonomy and Tropicos, which are separate resources from Symbiota.
Where it matters for collections and labs
- Licence: the code is GPL-2.0 (GitHub repository metadata, read 2026-11-08), so the licence terms of a GPL-2.0 project apply to anyone modifying and redistributing it.
- Support and maintenance: the README states that the code is actively developed by the Symbiota Support Hub at the KU Biodiversity Institute, with Arizona State University’s GIOS named as a major supporter.
- Roles: because the documentation separates collection managers from editors and portal managers, a collection that joins a portal should expect those responsibilities to be distinct.
- Publishing: collection managers publish to GBIF and iDigBio from the portal, so data cleaning and georeferencing happen before data reach those networks.
Common misunderstandings
- “Symbiota is a database of specimens.” It is software; the records belong to the collections that contribute them to each portal.
- “Symbiota is part of GBIF.” GBIF is a separate aggregator that receives published data. The Support Hub is a GBIF Participant Node, which is a different statement.
- “There is one Symbiota website.” symbiota.org is the project site; portals are separate installations.
FAQ
What is Symbiota used for?
Building portals that manage, explore and publish biodiversity collection data: specimens, observations, images, checklists and identification keys.
Is Symbiota free?
It is open-source under GPL-2.0. This page does not cover hosting arrangements.
Who maintains it?
The Symbiota Support Hub at the KU Biodiversity Institute, founded in 2021 as part of iDigBio, per symbiota.org/about.
Does Symbiota publish to GBIF?
Yes. The software lists publishing to GBIF and iDigBio among its data-management functions.
Sources
- Symbiota, home page (read 2026-11-08)
- Symbiota, About (read 2026-11-08)
- Symbiota GitHub repository and README (read 2026-11-08)
- Symbiota documentation (read 2026-11-08)
