BEIJING — The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) officially released a catalog of biological resources on Dec 9.

The catalog of biological resources collects more than 7 million pieces of biological resources data from 76 biological resources libraries in 40 research institutes of the CAS, including biological specimens, plant resources, biological genetic resources, experimental animal resources and biodiversity monitoring network resources.

Biological resources are important for biotechnological innovation. Since the 12th five-year plan, the CAS has launched a strategic biological resources plan, integrating relevant resources including the botanical garden, specimen museum, resource bank, biodiversity monitoring network and experimental animal platform of the CAS to build a complete biological resources system.

At present, a network framework has been formed, including five resource collection and preservation platforms, three resource evaluation and transformation platforms and one information center.

The biological resources data is open-access, providing support for the development of China's biological industry, according to the CAS.