Historic marine invertebrate species inventory: case study of a science baseline towards establishing a marine conservation area

Assessing species diversity is a basic requirement for conservation, and protecting biodiversity is a major goal of marine area conservation. A case study is presented on the development of a literature‐based (1870s to 2000), museum collection‐based, georeferenced inventory of marine invertebrate species of the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) region, Canada. Database structure and quality assurance are described, along with including indigenous people's words for species towards using traditional knowledge within cooperative marine conservation area management. The utility of this type of inventory is proposed as a starting point for gathering regional biodiversity knowledge, and facilitating addition of other knowledge types, towards marine area conservation.