1

Abstract—In this paper is exposed the experience of applying

text mining to evaluate the activity of the Regional Activity

Centre for Specially Protected Areas of the U�EP Mediterranean

Action Plan (Tunisia) in Secretariat of the Protocol concerning

Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the

Mediterranean. There have been two analyzes, one of the

management documents of the RAC/SPA and the other of the

research documents on marine biodiversity in the

Mediterranean. We compared the results of both analyzes. That

reveals important effort of the Centre management work on the

ecological evaluation, the diagnosis of the Mediterranean

ecosystems, and the climate change (impacts, vulnerable

ecosystems, and coastal issues). The activity of RAC/SPA is well

distributed over the map of strategic knowledge.

Index Terms—Text Mining, Big Data, Decision Making,

Marine Biodiversity, Mediterranean Sea, Biological

Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Marine Parks, Protocol

concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in

the Mediterranean, Mediterranean Action Plan.

I. INTRODUCTION

O-WORD analysis is a powerful tool to discover knowledge in bibliographic databases. The co-occurrence

This work is result of collaboration between the research group Techné and

Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan. The object of this collaboration was assess the status of implementation of Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean Region (SAPBIO) since its adoption, including regional priority actions and national action plans, and update SAPBIO providing specific recommendations on ways and means to integrate the ecosystem approach process and the Aichi targets of the new CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity [8].

J. Pino-Díaz, is Professor of Departamento de Historia del Arte, Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Teatinos. 29071 – Málaga (Spain) (e-mail: jpinod@uma.es). Research groups, “Techne, Knowledge and product” (techne-research-group.com/) and “iArtHis Lab” (iarthis.hdplus.es/)

L. Chiadmi-García is Researcher of Departamento de Ingeniería Química,

Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva. 18071 – Granada (Spain) (e-mail: laila@ugr.es). Research group, “Techne, Knowledge and product” (techne-research-group.com)

D. Cebrián-Menchero is Programme Officer of Strategic Action Programme for Biological Diversity (SAPBIO). Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA), Boulevard du Leader Yasser Arafet - B.P. 337 - 1080 - Tunis Cedex - Tunisie (daniel.cebrian@RAC/SPA.org).

R. Bailón-Moreno, is Professor of Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva. 18071 – Granada (Spain) (e-mail: bailonm@ugr.es). Research group, “Techne, Knowledge and product” (techne-research-group.com)

of words in the documents forms knowledge networks. These networks can be studied by methods KDD (knowledge discovery in databases) in order to obtain new knowledge, not explicit in documents. The development of expert systems has facilitated the analysis and visualization of the words networks [1].

Strategic scientific analysis consists of extracting the most important or relevant clusters of the documentary research corpus [2]. The clusters can be classified in four categories: research fronts; structural or generalists; adjacent or complementary; or nascent or in disappearing, according to its position in the strategic diagram.

Techné Coword, a new version of Copalred ® [3], is a knowledge system based on the co-word analysis, which has its antecedent in Leximappe ®. Leximappe ® has proven useful in the strategic analysis of networks of scientific and technical knowledge. In the keyword field it is possible to analyze the relations of co-occurrence keywords.

In the strategic analyses of scientific networks, the aim is to identify the most notable relationships between all the elements constituting the network. In other words, to ascertain the important, essential, and fundamental relations established in the network and not those that are sporadic, weak, or circumstantial. In this way, on a scale of 0 to 1, the closer the equivalence index approaches 1, the stronger the relationship between the two terms. In this sense, the value of the relation between two keywords is indicative of the degree of generality/specificity of the research theme. The co-occurrences detected in the keywords field are placed into a symmetric matrix (adjacency matrix), then normalized with the equivalence or association index in order to obtain values range between 0 and 1. This index is independent of the sample size [4]. The matrix of co-occurrences or matrix of adjacency is a symmetric matrix that shows at the cut-off points between rows and columns the co-occurrences of the values that head each row and each column.

II. METHODOLOGY

The scientific relevant production has been analyzed using Knowledge Engineering methods [5]. Scientific relevant production is understood as the number of scientific articles published that are related to marine and coastal biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean.

Text Mining of Scientific Big Data for Decision Making in Conservation of Mediterranean

Marine Biodiversity

J. Pino-Díaz, L. Chiadmi-García, D. Cebrián-Menchero, and R. Bailón-Moreno.

C

2

A. Bibliographic Database Information

The databases employed are Geobase, ProQuest Aquatic Science Collection (formed by several databases), Scopus and Web of Science. Geobase and ProQuest Aquatic Science Collection are the databases specialized in environment research and Scopus and Web of Science are de main scientific databases.

Geobase forms part of the OvidSP plataform. Geobase is a multidisciplinary database that provides bibliographic information about Earth Sciences, Ecology, Geomechanics, Human Geography and Oceonography. This database comprised more than 2,000 international journals and more than 2, 4 millions of records.

ProQuest Aquatic Science Collection is a set of bibliographic databases of Proquest platform. Is formed by: Aqualine Information, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA 1) (Biological Sciences & Living, Resources information); Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA 2) (Ocean Technology, Policy & Non-Living Resources information); Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA 3) (Aquatic Pollution & Environmental Quality information); Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) (Aquaculture Abstracts information); Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) (Marine Biotechnology Abstracts information); Oceanic Abstracts Information; ProQuest Aquatic Science Journals Information; ProQuest Deep Indexing: Aquatic Sciences Information; and Water Resources Abstracts Information. The thematic coverage is: Aquaculture, Aquatic Organisms, Aquatic Contamination, Brackish Water Environments, Conservation, Environmental Quality, Fishery, Fresh Water Environments, Limnology, Marine Biotechnology, Marine Environments, Meteorology, Oceanography, Policy and Norms, Management of Wide life.

Scopus is the biggest bibliographic database of world, with 20,500 publications from more than 5,000 international editors and covers more than 28 millions of documents (80% of international publications peer reviews and weekly updated). The disciplines that Scopus covers are the following: Chemistry, Physic, Mathematics and Engineering; Life Sciences and Medicine; and Social Sciences, Psychology and Economics.

Web of Science is a Thomson Reuters's platform and that is formed by following multidisciplinary databases: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) -1900-present ; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) -1900-present; Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) -1975-present; Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S) -1990-present;Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH) -1990-present; Book Citation Index– Science (BKCI-S) -2005-present; Book Citation Index– Social Sciences & Humanities (BKCI-SSH) -2005-present.

B. Recovered documents from bibliographic databases

The search is performed in title, abstract and key word fields with following Boolean search expression:

(((biodiversit* OR "biological diversit*" OR *speci* OR communit* OR *assemblag*) AND (marin* OR coastal* OR "coastal lagoon*" OR "coastal wetland*" OR "coastal shrub*" OR " coastal forest*")) AND (*mediterran* OR alboran* OR "mar menor" OR "mar chica" OR adriatic* OR balearic* OR sardinia* OR ligurian* OR tyrrhenian* OR ionian* OR aegean* OR libyan* OR cilicia* OR "sardinia channel" OR "sicilian channel" ))

In the Table I the number of recovered documents from each used database is showed. We have removed the duplicate documents that appeared in two or more used databases and the definitive total documents are 24,649.

C. Analysis of the scientific and technical documents of

RAC/SPA

Scientific and technical documents produced by RAC/SPA were collected and analyzed in order to evaluate the management focus of the Centre along the first ten years period in which the SAPBIO was under execution. The whole official documentary production of RAC/SPA since 2003 up to 2012 is 188 documents.

III. RESULTS

A. Quantitative analysis

The quantitative analysis of the scientific production on marine and coastal biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean allows assessing the potential relation between the trends of scientific production and the main milestones of the Barcelona Convention and the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity (SAP/BD). These main milestones are presented in Table II.

Table III shows the scientific production according to the

periods between milestones.

TABLE I DATABASE AND DOCUMENTS DATABASE DOCUMENTS

GEOBASE 8,326 PROQUEST AQUATIC SCIENCE COLLECTION 17,022 SCOPUS 6,445 WEB OF SCIENCE 9,091 TOTAL DOCUMENTS WITH DUPLICATES 40,884 TOTAL DOCUMENTS WITHOUT DUPLICATES (UNTIL MAY

2013) 24,649

TOTAL DOCUMENTS WITHOUT DUPLICATES (UNTIL DECEMBER 2012)

23,270

TABLE II MILESTONES

Year Milestone

1976 Signature of the Barcelona Convention 1982 Adoption of the Protocol Concerning Mediterranean

Specially Protected Areas 1995 Revision of the Barcelona Convention and of the

SPA/DB Protocol 2003 Adoption of the SPA/BD Protocol

End 2012 End of the study data used in this analysis

As shown in Figure 1 Scientific production on Mediterranean marine biodiversity follows strong increase close to an exponential growing. The milestones are marked in the graph.

Figure 2 shows a change in the behaviorproduction, which is in line with a change in the scientific focusing in the Mediterranean marine research as we will see further below.

Through Text Mining (Co-word Analysis) of the corpus of keywords from the scientific production the relevant topics were identified. This type of analysis applied between the milestones allows visualizingproduced in the number and features oftopics.

Fig. 1 Scientific production on Mediterranean marine biodiversity follows strong increase close to an exponential growing. The milestones are marked in the graph.

TABLE III MILESTONES/NUMBER ARTICLES

Milestone Period �um.

years

�um.

scientific

articles

Until 1976

1091976 1976-1981 6 1501982 1982-1994 13 10871995 1995-2002 7 46132003 2003-2012 10 17311

TOTAL 36 23270

Fig. 2 A change in the behavior of scientific production, which is in line with a change in the scientific focusing in the Mediterranean marine research as we will see further below.

in Figure 1 Scientific production on Mediterranean marine biodiversity follows strong increase close to an exponential growing. The milestones are marked in the graph.

behavior of scientific production, which is in line with a change in the scientific focusing in the Mediterranean marine research as we will see

Analysis) of the corpus of keywords from the scientific production the relevant topics were identified. This type of analysis applied in the periods

visualizing the change features of relevant research

B. Dynamic analysis

This dynamic analysis shows that relevant topics on Mediterranean marine biodiversity were triggered after four key milestones related to marine policy implementation in the region (Figure 3).

The analysis performed this way shows the increase in complexity and richness of the Mediterranean marine research along the analyzed periods.

The environmental policy of the countries influences the evolution of scientific and been demonstrated by the theories developed by the Innovation Sociology Centre of Paris during the 80s, among others.

The period run since the adoption of SAP BIO by the Parties to the Barcelona Convention has been benefitted by a strong boosting of research topics relevant to the conservation of the Mediterranean. Both thenvironmental strategy and the Mediterranean research community might have mutually benefitted along the last decade.

production on Mediterranean marine biodiversity follows crease close to an exponential growing. The milestones are marked

NUMBER ARTICLES

�um.

scientific

articles

Accumulated

num.

scientific

articles

109 109 150 259 1087 1346 4613 5959 17311 23270 23270 23270

of scientific production, which is in line

ientific focusing in the Mediterranean marine

Fig. 3 Increase in main relevant topics along time and temporal framing with Barcelona Convention milestones.

Fig. 4 Strategic diagram of 5300 documents produced 2011

3

This dynamic analysis shows that relevant topics on Mediterranean marine biodiversity were triggered after four key milestones related to marine policy implementation in the

The analysis performed this way shows the increase in complexity and richness of the Mediterranean marine research

The environmental policy of the countries influences the technical matters. This fact has

been demonstrated by the theories developed by the Innovation Sociology Centre of Paris during the 80s, among

The period run since the adoption of SAP BIO by the Parties to the Barcelona Convention has been benefitted by a strong boosting of research topics relevant to the conservation of the Mediterranean. Both the implementation of this environmental strategy and the Mediterranean research community might have mutually benefitted along the last

in main relevant topics along time and temporal framing with Barcelona Convention milestones.

c diagram of 5300 documents produced 2011-2012.

C. Strategic analysis of the 5300 documents of 2011

period

We have made the strategic analysis of documents (5300 docs) produced in 2011 and 2012. The strategic diagram recent period (2011-2012) shows the main research subnetworks located according to their density and centrality parameters (Figure 4).

It is observed that the sub-network "MANAGEMENT" is located in one quadrant (upper right quadrant; subhigh density and centrality). Sub-network parameters are shown in Table IV and sub-network graph in Figure

D. Strategic analysis of MA3AGEME3T

The 315 documents associated with the subMANAGEMENT can be processed again wsystem and to obtain the strategic diagram for this documentary subset. Major subnetworks MANAGEMENT related research are shown in Figure 6.

E. Strategic analysis of RAC/SPA documents

As a result of the work a Keyword Cloud obtained through Text Mining techniques of the whole documentary production of RAC SPA. The figure dmanagement profile of the Centre (Figure

TABLE IV GENERAL PARAMETERS AND KEY

DOCUMENTS NUMBER: 315 CENTRALITY: 90,114 DENSITY: 20.8825 CENTRALITY RANGE: 71.9% DENSITY RANGE: 78.1% NUMBER OF KEYWORDS: 20

KEYWORDS; 1. MANAGEMENT, 2. FISHERY, 3. CONSERVATION, 4. CONSERVATION-

MANAGEMENT, 5. FISHERY-MANAGEMENT, 6. MANAGEMENT-PRACTICE, 7. SUSTAINABILITY,

8. PROTECTED9. COASTAL

MANAGEMENT10. RESOURCE11. POLICY12. MARINE13. MARINE

AREAS14. SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT15. HABITAT16. FISHING17. ENDANGERED18. MODELLING19. FISHING20. MODELS

Fig. 5 MANAGEMENT sub-network graph. Links shows the cobetween keywords.

s of the 5300 documents of 2011-2012

We have made the strategic analysis of documents (5300 The strategic diagram of the

2012) shows the main research sub-networks located according to their density and centrality

network "MANAGEMENT" is located in one quadrant (upper right quadrant; sub-networks of

network parameters are network graph in Figure 5.

of MA3AGEME3T sub-network

The 315 documents associated with the sub-network can be processed again with the knowledge

system and to obtain the strategic diagram for this documentary subset. Major subnetworks MANAGEMENT

documents

As a result of the work a Keyword Cloud Figure was obtained through Text Mining techniques of the whole documentary production of RAC SPA. The figure depicts the management profile of the Centre (Figure 7). It may be

concluded that the focus of its activity was, in addition to marine conservation broadly: action plans, meetings, guidelines, MPAs, SAP BIO implementation, impacts, coastal issues, marine turtles, SPAMI list, species; and so on from areas of stronger effort dedication to the ones with less involvement.

A further analysis was undertaken to detect interest subjects with regard to their relational aspects (Figure cluster around the marine topics relates the main aspects of the RAC SPA activities. A quiet equilibrated relational net has been achieved in the development of the Centre activities. Bolder lines show that a stronger relationship has been built

with regard to climate change, impacts, and vulnerable ecosystems as well as coastal issues, important relational link developed among those factor. The main cluster around ecosystem propertiesemphasis in status and pressures, with components of marine and notably coastal biodiversity. That reveals important effort by the side of the Centre work on the ecological evaluation and diagnosis of the Mediterranean ecosystems. The thirdcluster identified was the SPAMIs.

There, management, focusing on SPAMI list, the boost of open seas inclusion in SPAMIs and the relevance of birds in the work undertaken in SPAMIs weightlessness of the web developed is a recent growing one.

KEYWORDS PROTECTED-AREAS, COASTAL-ZONE-MANAGEMENT, RESOURCE, POLICY, MARINE-PARKS, MARINE-PROTECTED-AREAS, SUSTAINABLE-DEVELOPMENT, HABITAT-CONSERVATION, FISHING, ENDANGERED-SPECIES, MODELLING, FISHING-EFFORT, MODELS.

network graph. Links shows the co-occurrence

Fig. 6 MANAGEMENT sub-network strategic diagram.

Fig. 7. Keyword Cloud of topic activity by RAC SPA Centre

4

concluded that the focus of its activity was, in addition to marine conservation broadly: action plans, meetings, guidelines, MPAs, SAP BIO implementation, impacts, coastal

urtles, SPAMI list, species; and so on from areas of stronger effort dedication to the ones with less

A further analysis was undertaken to detect interest subjects d to their relational aspects (Figure 8). The main

cluster around the marine topics relates the main aspects of the RAC SPA activities. A quiet equilibrated relational net has been achieved in the development of the Centre activities.

t a stronger relationship has been built

with regard to climate change, impacts, and vulnerable ecosystems as well as coastal issues, which may suggest the

developed among those factor. The main cluster around ecosystem properties shows a strong emphasis in status and pressures, with components of marine and notably coastal biodiversity. That reveals important effort by the side of the Centre work on the ecological evaluation and diagnosis of the Mediterranean ecosystems. The third

the SPAMIs. There, management, focusing on SPAMI list, the boost of

open seas inclusion in SPAMIs and the relevance of birds in the work undertaken in SPAMIs has been revealed. The weightlessness of the web developed suggests that the cluster

network strategic diagram.

Keyword Cloud of topic activity by RAC SPA Centre.

F. Strategic knowledge map of MA3AGEME3T sub

The SK Map [6] of the MANAGEMENT subshows the main research sub-networks in the FigureFigure 10 (3D). New knowledge derived from the strategic analysis has been transferred to synthetic SK maps.

SK Maps are cartographic, topographic, thematic, and qualitative maps [7]. The proximity between the teindicative of the index of association; the proximity between the sub-networks or strategic areas indicates affinity between them. The proximity of the terms to the centroid is a measurement of the degree of relationship of the term with the general theme under study (Mediterranean Marine Biodiversity Management); the proximity of the subof research of the centroid is indicative of its affinity with the

Fig 8 Network graphs obtained as a result of KDD analysis from the whole documentary production of RAC SPA centre during the last decade Thecluster around the marine topics relates the main aspects of the RAC SPA activities. A quiet equilibrated relational net has been achieved in the development of the Centre activities. Bolder lines show that a stronger relationship has been built with regard to climate change, impacts, and vulnerable ecosystems as well as coastal issues, important relational link developed among those factor. The main cluster around ecosystem properties shows a strong emphasis in status and pressures, with components of marine and notably coastal biodiversity. That reveals important effort by the side of the Centre work on the ecological evaluation and diagnosis of the Mediterranean ecosystems. The third identified was the SPAMIs.

Strategic knowledge map of MA3AGEME3T sub-network.

of the MANAGEMENT sub-network networks in the Figure 9 and

New knowledge derived from the strategic analysis has been transferred to synthetic SK maps.

SK Maps are cartographic, topographic, thematic, and . The proximity between the terms is

indicative of the index of association; the proximity between networks or strategic areas indicates affinity between

them. The proximity of the terms to the centroid is a measurement of the degree of relationship of the term with the

l theme under study (Mediterranean Marine Biodiversity Management); the proximity of the sub-networks of research of the centroid is indicative of its affinity with the

general theme of the study. In altimetry, altitude indicates the absolute importance of the terms of the strategic sub

in the overall network. The zoom of the central zone of SK Map is shows in the

Figure 11.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

The results of strategic analysis of RACand the results of analysis of MANAGEMENT subare compared to evaluate the management of RACreveals important effort of the Centre management work on the ecological evaluation, diagnosis of the Mediterranean ecosystems, and climate change (impacts, vulnerable ecosystems, and coastal issues). I

Fig 9 Strategic knowledge map of MANAGEMENT Projection).

Fig 10 Strategic knowledge map of MANAGEMENT sub(Digital Elevation Model).

8 Network graphs obtained as a result of KDD analysis from the whole documentary production of RAC SPA centre during the last decade The main cluster around the marine topics relates the main aspects of the RAC SPA activities. A quiet equilibrated relational net has been achieved in the development of the Centre activities. Bolder lines show that a stronger

regard to climate change, impacts, and vulnerable ecosystems as well as coastal issues, which may suggest the

developed among those factor. The main cluster around ecosystem properties shows a strong emphasis in status and

res, with components of marine and notably coastal biodiversity. That reveals important effort by the side of the Centre work on the ecological evaluation and diagnosis of the Mediterranean ecosystems. The third cluster

5

general theme of the study. In altimetry, altitude indicates the the terms of the strategic sub-networks

The zoom of the central zone of SK Map is shows in the

ONCLUSIONS

he results of strategic analysis of RAC/SPA documents and the results of analysis of MANAGEMENT sub-network

compared to evaluate the management of RAC/SPA. That reveals important effort of the Centre management work on the ecological evaluation, diagnosis of the Mediterranean ecosystems, and climate change (impacts, vulnerable ecosystems, and coastal issues). In Figure 12, on the SK Map

Strategic knowledge map of MANAGEMENT sub-network (Vertical

Strategic knowledge map of MANAGEMENT sub-network

6

of MANAGEMENT sub-network are drawn the activity zones of RAC/SPA. The activity of RAC/SPA is well distributed over the map

of strategic knowledge of the MANAGEMENT Sub-network of the Mediterranean marine biodiversity Scientific Network.

REFERENCES

[1] J. Pino-Díaz, "Análisis estratégico de la investigación sobre áreas protegidas en españa: ingeniería y cartografía del conocimiento. Tésis Doctoral.," 2011. [Online]. Available: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/15995. [Accessed 14 Febrero 2014].

[2] J. Pino-Díaz, E. Jiménez-Contreras, R. Ruíz-Baños and R. Bailón-Moreno, "Evaluación de redes tecnocientíficas: la red española sobre Áreas Protegidas, según la Web of Science," Revista Española de Documentación Científi ca,

vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 301-333, Julio-Septiembre 2011.

[3] R. Bailón-Moreno, "Ingeniería del conocimiento y vigilancia tecnológica aplicada a la investigación en el campo de los tensioactivos. Desarrollo de un modelo ciencimétrico unificado.," Tesis doctoral. Universidad de Granada., Granada, 2003.

[4] B. Michelet, L'analyse des associations. PhD Thesis., Paris: Université de Paris 7., 1988.

[5] X. Polanco, «Infometría e Ingeniería del Conocimiento: Exploración de Datos y Análisis de la Información en vista del Descubrimiento de Conocimientos.,» 1997. [En línea]. Available: http://www.oei.es/salactsi/polanco4.htm. [Último acceso: 3 Abril 2010].

[6] J. Pino-Díaz, E. Jiménez-Contreras, R. Ruíz-Baños and R. Bailón-Moreno, "Strategic knowledge maps of the techno-scientific network (SK Maps)," Journal of the American

Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 796-804, April 2012.

[7] J. Pino-Díaz, E. Jiménez-Contreras, R. Ruíz-Baños and R. Bailón-Moreno, "Visualitation des acteurs-reseaux a travers les cartes SIG," in Seminario VSST´09, Nancy (Francia), 2009.

[8] R. Bailón-Moreno, D. Cebrián-Menchero, L. Chiadmi-García, M. Fouda, J. Pino-Díaz, C. Rais, P. Tomas-Vives and G. Torchia, "Report on the evaluation and future orientations of the Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of Biological Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of Biological," United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA), Tunis, 2013.

Fig 11 Central zone of the SK Map (MANAGEMENT Sub-network); the image shows the centroid (red triangle,) the curves of nodal centrality (blue), the strategic sub-networks of research (red curves) and the main keywords of documents of RAC/SPA (yellow boxes)

Fig 12 Strategic knowledge map of MANAGEMENT sub-network. The main activity zones of RAC/SPA in blue.