National Bison Association unveils comprehensive database online
The National Bison Association today unveiled a new comprehensive database of scientific literature relating to bison health, nutrition, genetics, and other information.
“This new on-line database is designed to be the go-to site for anyone conducting research, writing articles or simply trying to increase their knowledge of fundamental issues related to bison,” said Dave Carter, executive director of the National Bison Association.
The database is the final product of a literature review conducted over the past six months by Gerald Huntington, Professor Emeritus, Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University. The project was initiated by the bison association’s Science and Research Committee and was underwritten by the National Buffalo Foundation.
The project began after a delegation of ranchers met with Robin Schoen, chair of the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources for the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C., last September. Schoen advised the delegation that a literature review would be the first step in developing formal Nutritional Requirements for Bison through the National Research Council of the National Academies.
The bison association has built a Zotero bibliographic database containing almost 2,000 references to scientific literature from scientific journals, university reports, conference and workshop proceedings and industry publications such as Bison World magazine. The database named “Bison references” can be accessed by visiting https://www.zotero.org/groups/2186447/bison_research/items. This database provides information about the nature and source of bison related material published before May 2018, when the database was created.
National Bison Association members can now access the full documents in the database by logging into the Members’ Section of bisoncentral.com and joining a similar Zotero group named “Bison publications.”
