01285nas a2200157   4500008004100000245003100041210003100072260001200103300001400115490000700129520087100136653001701007653002901024100002501053856004901078       2000                        eng d00aBiodiversity Datadiversity0 aBiodiversity Datadiversity  cOctober  a643–6830 v303 aBiodiversity is a data-intense science, drawing as it does on data from a large number of disciplines in order to build up a coherent picture of the extent and trajectory of life on earth. This paper argues that as sets of heterogeneous databases are made to converge, there is a layering of values into the emergent infrastructure. It is argued that this layering process is relatively irreversible, and that it operates simultaneously at a very concrete level (fields in a database) and at a very abstract one (the coding of the relationship between the disciplines and the production of a general ontology). Finally, it is maintained that science studies as a discipline is able to (and should) make a significant contribution to the design of robust and flexible databases which recognize this performative character of infrastructure. 10.1177/03063120003000500110abiodiversity10abiodiversity-informatics1 aBowker, Geoffrey, C.  uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1177/030631200030005001