Amazon biological data have been collected, primarily by single or small group of researchers in small areas, over relatively short periods of time. Questions on "ecological patterns and process variation in time and space, and what are the causes and consequences of this variability" are still important. To answer these questions, far more data are required than what could be collected, managed, and analysed in a single organisation. Researchers need detailed documentation to accurately interpret and analyse historic or long-term data sets, as well as, data from complex experiments. This requires understanding of the type of variables, the units adopted, potential biases in the measurement, sampling methodology and a series of facts that are not represented in the raw data, but rather in the metadata, which is non-existent for the majority of data sets. We have implemented a solution to manage biological metadata; supported by the FGDC metadata standard. It includes the use of XML-based metadata representation that has been incorporated into client/server architecture. This allows users to access data and metadata over the web. The digital management of metadata will give the users the possibility to locate and understand data through time.
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