The 2014 SCIENCE POLICY SYMPOSIUM to support the implementation of the 2020 Biodiversity strategy and the EU Water Framework Directive will be held between 29-30 Jan 2014 in the Museum of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Brussels. The symposium is jointly organised by the EU FP7 funded projects BioFresh and REFRESH.

Numerous EU biodiversity and water related policies have been designed to protect freshwater ecosystems and ensure their sustainable use. However, major challenges still persist in the implementation of these policies. Freshwater ecosystems support 10% of all animal species on Earth and provide a diverse array of functions and services that contribute to human well-being. In recent decades global freshwater biodiversity has declined at a greater rate compared to terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

The Science Policy Symposium for Freshwater Life is organised with the aim of bringing together policy makers and stakeholders from the water, energy and conservation sector, NGOs, the scientific community and selected experts to discuss challenges to implementing the 2020 Biodiversity strategy and the EU Water Framework Directive.

Contact: waterlives.commitee@freshwaterbiodiversity.eu

A correspondence item, published today, 10 Oct 2013, in Nature focuses on the upcoming calls for Horizon 2020 research funding. The European Commission has said that it would prefer bids from open, collaborative consortia rather than the competitive bids seen in previous funding programmes. The authors call for an effort to forge interdisciplinary links in biodiversity research, and ask readers to contribute to discussions on project ideas.

For more information read the full correspondence item in Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v502/n7470/full/502171d.html

Taxonomic descriptions, introduced by Linnaeus in 1735, are designed to allow scientists to tell one species from another. Now there is a new futuristic method for describing new species that goes far beyond the tradition. The new approach combines several techniques, including next generation molecular methods, barcoding, and novel computing and imaging technologies, that will test the model for big data collection, storage and management in biology. The study has just been published in the Biodiversity Data Journal.

While 13,494 new animal species were discovered by taxonomists in 2012, animal diversity on the planet continues to decline with unprecedented speed. Concerned with the rapid disappearance rates scientists have been forced towards a so called 'turbo taxonomy' approach, where rapid species description is needed to manage conservation.

While acknowledging the necessity of fast descriptions, the authors of the new study present the other 'extreme' for taxonomic description: "a new species of the future". An international team of scientists from Bulgaria, Croatia, China, UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Greece and Germany illustrated a holistic approach to the description of the new cave dwelling centipede species Eupolybothrus cavernicolus, recently discovered in a remote karst region of Croatia. The project was a collaboration between GigaScience, China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen and Pensoft Publishers.

Eupolybothrus cavernicolus has become the first eukaryotic species for which, in addition to the traditional morphological description, scientists have provided a transcriptomic profile, DNA barcoding data, detailed anatomical X-ray microtomography (micro-CT), and a movie of the living specimen to document important traits of its behaviour. By employing micro-CT scanning in a new species, for the first time a high-resolution morphological and anatomical dataset is created - the 'cybertype' giving everyone virtual access to the specimen.

This, most data-rich species description, represents also the first biodiversity project that joins the ISA (Investigation-Study-Assay) Commons, that is an approach created by the genomic and molecular biology communities to store and describe different data types collected in the course of a multidisciplinary study.

"Communicating the results of next generation sequencing effectively requires the next generation of data publishing" says Prof. Lyubomir Penev, Managing director of Pensoft Publishers. "It is not sufficient just to collect 'big' data. The real challenge comes at the point when data should be managed, stored, handled, peer-reviewed, published and distributed in a way that allows for re-use in the coming big data world", concluded Prof. Penev.

"Next generation sequencing is moving beyond piecing together a species genetic blueprint to areas such as biodiversity research, with mass collections of species in "metabarcoding" surveys bringing genomics, monitoring of ecosystems and species-discovery closer together. This example attempts to integrate data from these different sources, and through curation in BGI and GigaScience's GigaDB database to make it interoperable and much more usable," says Dr Scott Edmunds from BGI and Executive Editor of GigaScience.

Additional information:

Pensoft and the Natural History Museum London have received financial support by the EU FP7 projects ViBRANT and pro-iBiosphere. The China National GeneBank (CNGB) and GigaScience teams have received support from the BGI. The DNA barcodes were obtained through the International Barcode of Life Project supported by grants from NSERC and from the government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Ontario Genomics Institute.

Original Sources:

Stoev P, Komerički A, Akkari N, Shanlin Liu, Xin Zhou, Weigand AM, Hostens J, Hunter CI, Edmunds SC, Porco D, Zapparoli M, Georgiev T, Mietchen D, Roberts D, Faulwetter S, Smith V, Penev L (2013) Eupolybothrus cavernicolus Komerički & Stoev sp. n. (Chilopoda: Lithobiomorpha: Lithobiidae): the first eukaryotic species description combining transcriptomic, DNA barcoding and micro-CT imaging data. Biodiversity Data Journal 1: e1013. DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.1.e1013

Edmunds SC, Hunter CI, Smith V, Stoev P, Penev L (2013) Biodiversity research in the "big data" era: GigaScience and Pensoft work together to publish the most data-rich species description. GigaScience 2:14 doi:10.1186/2047-217X-2-14

Watch the 3D cybertype video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqPuwKG8hE4&feature=em-upload_owner

The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) in the University of Oxford is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to join the existing research team on two EU funded research projects: IMPRESSIONS and OPENNESS.

The role will require the development of a range of methodological and modelling approaches, including quantitative, qualitative and mixed techniques, to address a number of environmental science challenges in the contexts of operationalising ecosystem services and investigating cross-sectoral climate change impacts and vulnerabilities. The post provides the opportunity for a researcher with skills in programming, GIS and statistics to develop innovative solutions in research areas critical to ensuring the resilience of our future environment and to expand the modelling capability of the ECI team.

You will have a PhD in a discipline relevant to modelling or environmental sciences and a background in programming and modelling. You will have experience of using Geographical Information Systems and a strong grounding in statistics and/or operational research. Excellent communication skills both written and oral are essential. You will be self-motivated, with the ability to work independently.

This post is available for 24 months in the first instance.

The closing date for applications is 12.00 noon on Wednesday 18 December 2013. It is intended that interviews will be held during the week beginning 13 January 2014.

For more information and to apply for this position, click here.

The Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg offers in cooperation with GEO BON and iDiv the position of Executive Director for the duration of 30 months (initially limited till September 30th, 2016 with possibility of extension). The Executive Director will work in close collaboration with the incoming Chair of the GEO BON Steering Committee, Prof. Henrique M. Pereira (iDiv) and the incoming vice-chair, Dr. Mike Gill (Environment Canada), thematic workgroup coordinators, regional BON coordinators, the GEO BON Steering Committee and the GEO secretariat.

Requirements:
• Ph.D. in ecology or related field
• excellent diploma or master degree in a relevant field
• demonstrable experience in project management with executive leadership in organizations a plus
• excellent communication skills, fluency in English, knowledge of other languages being a plus
• willingness to travel abroad frequently, outgoing and at ease in multicultural backgrounds

Topic/job description:
• Providing visible leadership for GEO BON and representing GEO BON at scientific and policy meetings
• Creating funding opportunities through engagement with potential donors
• Coordinating activities of GEO BON Working Groups and Regional Observation Networks
• Liaising with national and regional organizations involved in biodiversity monitoring and reporting
• Organize the Steering Committee, All-hands and other meetings of GEO BON and manage the communication activities of GEO BON, including a regular newsletter and a website
• Manage, as and when required, activities and inputs requested by the GEO secretariat

Applications should be directed to emily.keller@idiv.de and addressed to Henrique M. Pereira, Professor of Biodiversity Conservation, iDiv. Applications should be in a single PDF file with reference file number (D 189/2013). Applications are accepted until January 6th, 2014.

For more information see attached the full text of the job offer.

Today, 16/12/2013,  the European Commission announced the launch of a new Pilot on Open Research Data in Horizon 2020, to ensure that valuable information produced by researchers in many EU-funded projects will be shared freely. Researchers in projects participating in the pilot are asked to make the underlying data needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications and other scientific information available for use by other researchers, innovative industries and citizens. This will lead to better and more efficient science and improved transparency for citizens and society. It will also contribute to economic growth through open innovation. For 2014-2015, topic areas participating in the Open Research Data Pilot will receive funding of around €3 billion.

The Commission recognises that research data is as important as publications. It therefore announced in 2012 that it would experiment with open access to research data (see IP/12/790). The Pilot on Open Research Data in Horizon 2020 does for scientific information what the Open Data Strategy does for public sector information: it aims to improve and maximise access to and re-use of research data generated by projects for the benefit of society and the economy.

The Pilot involves key areas of Horizon 2020:

• Future and Emerging Technologies

• Research infrastructures – part e-Infrastructures

• Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Information and Communication Technologies

• Societal Challenge: Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy – part Smart cities and communities

• Societal Challenge: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw materials – with the exception of topics in the area of raw materials

• Societal Challenge: Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies

• Science with and for Society

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda said "We know that sharing and re-using research data holds huge potential for science, society and the economy. This Pilot is an opportunity to see how different disciplines share data in practice and to understand remaining obstacles."

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "This pilot is part of our commitment to openness in Horizon 2020. I look forward to seeing the first results, which will be used to help set the course for the future."

Projects may opt out of the pilot to allow for the protection of intellectual property or personal data; in view of security concerns; or should the main objective of their research be compromised by making data openly accessible.

The Pilot will give the Commission a better understanding of what supporting infrastructure is needed and of the impact of limiting factors such as security, privacy or data protection or other reasons for projects opting out of sharing. It will also contribute insights in how best to create incentives for researchers to manage and share their research data.

The Pilot will be monitored throughout Horizon 2020 with a view to developing future Commission policy and EU research funding programmes.

On the 17 Jan in Geneva, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) received unanimous endorsement to unleash the power of open data for a second decade. There was agreement to continue building on the organization’s first 10 years of pioneering environmental advances, which are designed to improve the quality of life of people everywhere. Fueled by open data, GEO’s efforts are now evident in most regions of the world. GEO is comprised of 90 member nations, the European Commission and 77 Participating Organizations.

"GEO is successfully meeting its mandate, which is to make data and other information open, accessible and easy to discover for decision makers around the world," said Mr. Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment. "GEO’s vision is now operational, a proven force for putting sound science to work across nine essential areas: agriculture, biodiversity, climate, disasters, ecosystems, energy, health, water and weather."

GEO’s mandate is to drive the interoperability of the many thousands of space-based, airborne and in situ Earth observations around the globe. Without concerted efforts to coordinate across diverse observations, these separate systems often yield just snapshot assessments, leading to gaps in scientific understanding and hampering data fusion in support of better decision making for society. GEO aims to fill such gaps by providing a comprehensive, more integrated picture of our changing Earth. GEO is accomplishing this by establishing a Global Earth Observation System of Systems, known as GEOSS, and a Portal through which data and other information can be easily accessed at little or no cost.

"Rather than snapshot assessments, GEO gives us moving pictures of a changing planet," said Mr. Cao Jianlin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. "Our world does not work just in the sea, on land, in the atmosphere or in space, and our policies cannot reflect individual domains either."  China, for example, is partnering with 46 other GEO-member nations and several of GEO’s Participating Organizations to ensure that unprecedented data will be available to measure the effects of human activities and natural processes on the carbon cycle, the first such coordinated effort at the global level.

In South Africa, 22 nations and 5 GEO Participating Organizations recently launched AfriGEOSS with the goal of strengthening that continent’s capabilities to produce, manage and use earth observations. "This new initiative gives us the necessary framework to support informed decisions about a range of priorities, including food security, access to clean water and sanitation, natural resources, and coastal and disaster management," said Derek Hannekom, Minister of Science and Technology, South Africa.

By increasing the utility of open data about the Earth, GEO is helping to mitigate disasters, develop water-management strategies, support citizen observatories, and strengthen food security. GEO is driving the development of new tools, such as a cholera early warning system, as well as painting fuller pictures of complex environmental processes, including through global observations of ocean acidification at the global scale and observations of atmospheric greenhouse gases from space. GEO participants are also studying the footprint of mining practices, with the aim of minimizing future impacts on nearby communities and natural habitat, and focusing on links between air quality and health. There is also focus on the far-reaching consequences of melting glaciers and other serious cold-region concerns.

"The Obama Administration continues to work to catalyze the emergence of new businesses, products and services powered by the U.S. Government's open data. Increasing access to data and data sharing, both nationally and internationally, is crucial for unleashing innovation across our data-driven economy," said Dr. Patrick Gallagher, performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary of Commerce." GEO's collaborative work to integrate open data about the Earth continues to drive the development of new tools, services and scientific insights that are used around the world to support sound decision making."

The second plenary of the Platform met in December 2013 and agreed an ambitious work programme for 2014-2018: Details of the agreed work programme are available in the advanced meeting report of the Plenary.

The IPBES Secretariat have now issued a call for experts to help scope, advise on and deliver the work programme. Governments and relevant stakeholders can put forward nominations, from which the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel of IPBES will select a maximum of 20% of experts from the stakeholder nominations, and the rest from the government nominations.

The UK expects IPBES to make use of the best scientists/experts from all relevant disciplines - natural science, social science, economics, data and modelling and traditional knowledge, and to achieve a geographical and gender balance among those experts in the delivery of the IPBES work programme.

More information of the required topics to be covered by experts, alongside the nomination forms and how to nominate can be found in the attachments below.

Ecosystem functioning, or the role which organisms play in an ecosystem, is becoming increasingly important in marine ecological and conservation. To facilitate such studies an international team of scientists lead by S. Faulwetter from the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HMRC) present the Polytraitsdatabase that aims to provide re-usable, and accessible data on marine bristle worms. The paper describing the new database was published in the innovative Biodiversity Data Journal, a pioneer in the publication of integrated biological data.

Benthic organisms participate in a number of biological processes in world water basins. Their functional diversity is an important community property demonstrating the role organisms have in the ecosystem and helping to understand how the community reacts to environmental changes. Polychaetes, or bristle worms, are marine worms famous for their peculiar shapes and often vivid coloration. More than 10,000 species are described in the class worldwide, most of which living in the shelf zone of the seas and oceans, burrowing in the sediment or swimming among the plankton.

At present, the Polytraits database contains almost 20,000 records on morphological, behavioural and reproductive characteristics of more than 1,000 species, all referenced by literature sources. All data on these engaging organisms can be freely accessed through the project website in different ways and formats, both human-readable and machine-readable. The new database presents a rich and easy to use collection, which cover morphological, reproductive and behavioural characteristics of polychaetes, as well as information on environmental preferences in an attempt to facilitate ecological research and conservation studies.

The researchers also provide a leading-edge approach to accessing, integrating and re-using the data. Through programming interfaces, the life-cycle information is automatically integrated into the Polychaetes Scratchpads, together with other data on polychaetes. Scratchpads are easy to use, adaptable, and provide powerful tools for managing biodiversity data. This taxon-centric virtual research environment allows browsing the taxonomic classification and retrieving various kinds of relevant information for each taxon, among which are also the collected biological traits.

Furthermore, the data are also accessible through Encyclopedia of Life's TraitBank which currently features over 3 million records related to more than 250 attributes for 272,720 taxa, including the Polytraits data. TraitBank serves as a provider for aggregated species trait data. All data uploaded there are archived and integrated with trait information from other sources to address issues of standardization of scientific data. This is the first complex database for marine organisms to be published in such an innovative way and demonstrates yet another example of collaboration between the data publisher Pensoft and Encyclopedia of Life.

EU BON takes care to enhance the expertise of its consortium by affiliating associate partners, an approach the project is planning to continue with. EU BON is pleased to welcome the latest addition to our list of associate partners - HaMAARAG- The Israel National Program for Ecosystem Assessment.

HaMaarag was established in 2006, following a decade’s worth of research in Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) stations. Its main objective is to promotescience-based management of open landscapes and natural resources, for human well-being and for long-term sustainability of nature in Israel.

HaMaarag aims to:
•   Generate science-based knowledge about the state of ecosystems and biodiversity in Israel
•   Strengthen the relationship between scientific knowledge, management and policymaking, in the fields of natural resource and open landscape management, land use planning and nature conservation.
•   Improve accessibility of this knowledge to decision-makers and the general public.

By achieving these aims, HaMaarag promotes the development of a common language, knowledge base and perspective regarding ecosystems in Israel, thus facilitating efficiency of management and policy within the relevant organizations.

The ASEAN-EU STI Days took place between 21-23 January 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand.  During the event a special workshop "Integration of biodiversity data recording and information management systems for environmental sustainability: a call for EU-ASEAN collaboration" has been organized to stimulate EU-ASEAN collaboration in research on biodiversity informatics and integrative environmental information management.

A special EU BON dedicated presentation was given by Dr. Christoph Häuser at the workshop, which took place on 22 January. As a regional component of the Group of Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), the EU BON project presented an innovative approach towards integration of biodiversity information systems from on-ground to remote sensing data, for addressing policy and information needs in a timely and customized manner.

Such an approach requires integration between social networks of science and policy, and technological networks of interoperating IT infrastructures. While focussing on Europe, EU BON is expected to connect and reach out globally, especially towards regions with many biodiversity hotspots such as SE-Asia.

The main objectives of the workshop were to:

• Review and compare the situation regarding relevant biodiversity and Earth observation data and information sources/providers in EU and ASEAN;
• Examine linkages between regional/national ASEAN and EU efforts with international / global biodiversity information systems (in particular GBIF, GEO BON);
• Assess and discuss national vs. regional level priorities and needs with regard to integrated biodiversity information in ASEAN and Europe;
• Identify common challenges and needs towards further integration of different types, levels, and scopes of available data and information systems;
• To address how S&T cooperation between Europe and ASEAN in the area of biodiversity and Earth observation could be further developed to better serve policy needs (especially in light of IPBES), and to contribute to common goals towards sustainable economic development.

Five other presentations were given at the workshop on behalf of Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), FishBase Information and Research Group, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC), and Thailand Bioresource Research Center (TBRC). Presentations from the meeting are available to view below, or alternatively visit: http://www.stidays.net/?page_id=510

Presentations:

Christoph L. Häuser (EU BON) on "The EU BON approach for information integration" (introduction to the workshop)

Tim Hirsch (GBIF) on "The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) – collaborating to promote data access for research and policy"

Sheila G. Vergara (ACB) on "Knowledge sharing for biodiversity conservation in the ASEAN Region"

Christine Casal (FishBase) on "Using FishBase and AquaMaps to predict IAS establishment, species ranges and risk assessment"

Leng Guan Saw (FRIM) on "Herbarium Data and Plant Conservation in Malaysia"

Lily Eurwilaichitr (TBRC) on "TBRC as an online information intermediary: towards the sustainability of biological resources"

Care about biodiversity protection and science-policy dialogue? The second BESAFE stakeholder workshop might be just the thing for you.

The BESAFE project invites all interested policy makers, NGO representatives, decision makers and people, who argue ('lobby') for biodiversity protection to take part in its second stakeholder workshop, focusing the results from the project case studies and the best ways to make them useful through a stakeholder focused web-based tool.

The workshop will be held on 13 and 14 May 2004 at the Park Inn Brussels Midi, Brussels, Belgium. To register and participate is easy just follow this link, which will take you to an easy to follow and use registration page.

On the afternoon of 13 May BESAFE will present the results of the project’s case studies and then their use and implications will be discussed with stakeholders. The morning of 14 May is reserved for a learning workshop on the best ways to unlock and present project results. As committed stakeholder involvement is crucial to BESAFE’s success, we hope that you will be able to join us in Brussels!

In a nutshell, BESAFE investigates the effectiveness of different types of arguments in convincing policy makers to take action for biodiversity protection in a variety of circumstances. The project has two specific focus areas: the interactions of environmental protection policies between governance scales, and the contribution that ecosystem services BESAFE is committed to produce practically usable results and to make them available and easily accessible through a web-based tool. This is a goal we can clearly only achieve through input and feedback from stakeholders. BESAFE is therefore set up as an interactive project in which we inform and consult those on a regular basis.

Deadline for registration is the 1st of April 2014, but registration will be closed earlier when our limit of 25 stakeholders is reached. Due to this limited capacity, registration is subject to approval.

Issue 72 of the CBD Technical Series is now out focusing on "EARTH OBSERVATION FOR BIODIVERSITY MONITORING : A review of current approaches and future opportunities for tracking progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets". The issue shows how earth observation technologies can and should fit into systems for biodiversity monitoring, as well as demonstrates how these approaches could further improve relevant indicators for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. It illustrates a clear track from observations done by remote sensing platforms through Essential Biodiversity Variables to biodiversity indicators and ultimately to the assessment of progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and ultimately in support of evidence-based decision making. EU BON is also featured in this report.

The goal of the CBD Technical Series is to contribute to the dissemination of up-to-date and accurate information on selected topics that are important for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the equitable sharing of its benefits. A large and growing body of evidence has clearly established the need to disseminate synthesis publications relevant to CBD objectives and selected reports presented at CBD meetings.

The CBD Technical Series is intended to:

• Foster scientific and technical cooperation;
• Improve communication between the Convention and the scientific community;
• Increase awareness of current biodiversity-related problems and concerns; and
• Facilitate widespread and effective use of the growing body of scientific and technical information on conserving and using biological diversity.

The full report is available here.

Hoffmann A, Penner J, Vohland K, Cramer W, Doubleday R, Henle K, Kõljalg U, Kühn I, Kunin WE, Negro JJ, Penev L, Rodríguez C, Saarenmaa H, Schmeller DS, Stoev P, Sutherland WJ, Tuama1 EO, Wetzel F, Häuser CL (2014) Improved access to integrated biodiversity data for science, practice, and policy - the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON). Nature Conservation 6: 49–65. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.6.6498

The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.  ESA is an international organisation with 20 Member States.

How is EU BON connected to space research? As a speaker at the EU BON General Meeting, which took place on Crete between 30 March - 3 April 2014, Marc Paganini of the European Space Agency explains the collaboration between ESA and GEO BON, and how EU BON is involved.

In the following interview he continues the topic:

Marc Paganini (left) and Dirk Schmeller (right) at the EU BON General Meeting 2014

1) For most of the general public space and biodiversity research hardly have anything to do with each other, can you explain how the European Space Agency (ESA) and the idea of remote sensing communities make these two meet?

It is widely recognized that in-situ observations available on biological diversity are very scarce for most of the Earth’s ecosystems and are often insufficient for determining precisely the global status and trends of biodiversity worldwide. In most cases, satellite Earth Observations do not provide a direct measurement of biodiversity but, if properly used with ground collection of biodiversity data and species and habitat modeling, remote sensing can become an important and essential component of biodiversity monitoring systems. There are multiple cases where remote sensing is often the only instrument that can offer large scale monitoring, as for example in highly variable ecosystems such as wetlands or in remote areas that can hardly be monitored by field campaigns.

The recent and future evolution of the portfolio of EO satellites offers huge potential for increasing the use of EO products into biodiversity monitoring systems. The lack of data continuity has always been a barrier for the biodiversity community to invest in EO technology.  A commitment from Space Agencies to provide sustained observations on the long term is a strong incentive for the biodiversity community to invest in Space. The Sentinel series of the European Copernicus program, together with the freely available data from other space agencies such as the Landsat family of the US Geological Survey, will bring unprecedented long-term continuity of observations for the biodiversity community. In that context, free and open data policy to taxpayer-funded satellite remote sensing imagery is becoming a "de facto" standard amongst Space Agencies and a unique opportunity for the biodiversity community to use widely EO products to monitor biodiversity trends.

2) How is the ESA involved with the aims of EU BON, where do the two initiatives intersect?

ESA and many other Space Agencies are becoming more and more committed in helping the biodiversity community at large, in improving their capacity to use remote sensing data for monitoring biodiversity trends.

First there is a coordinated action from all Space Agencies through the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and its involvement in the Group of Earth Observation (GEO). The GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organizations who engaged jointly in developing a comprehensive, coordinated and sustained system of observations of the Earth with the ultimate objective to enhance scientifically-sound decision making. Biodiversity is one of the primary societal benefit areas of GEO and is addressed by the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). CEOS is actively involved in GEO BON, principally through the participation to its steering committee of the European, US and German Space Agencies, namely ESA, NASA and DLR. Since EU BON is the principal European contribution to GEO BON, and has, amongst its objectives, the aim to integrate biodiversity data from ground observations to remote sensing information, ESA is directly concerned by the EU BON development in using remote sensing for terrestrial, freshwater and marine realms.

Second, ESA has its own EO application development programs, and funds a wide range of Research & Development projects for biodiversity and ecosystem services. In that context, ESA has established close relationships with the European Environment Agency (EEA) but also with the secretariats and scientific bodies of major Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. The findings of the ESA-funded EO projects on biodiversity and ecosystem services are highly relevant to EU BON. It is therefore expected that the ESA and EU BON activities in relation to the use of RS for biodiversity monitoring will offer some convergence of evidence showcases for the whole biodiversity community.

3) How do you see the future of collaboration with EU BON?

The high potential for satellite Earth Observations to support biodiversity monitoring is growing but is yet to be fully realised. The recent efforts of GEO BON, supported by the GEO Plenary and the CBD Conference of the Parties, to define a set of minimum essential observational requirements to monitor biodiversity trends will give considerable impetus for space agencies and for the remote sensing community to focus their work on a small set of well defined EO products that will serve the needs of the biodiversity community at large. In that context ESA is firmly engaged in supporting the development of these emerging Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). EU BON together with ESA can be pioneers in the early development and demonstration.

The "Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network" EU BON General Meeting took place between 30 March - 3 April 2014 in Heraklion on Crete, to present major project results and set objectives for the future. The meeting was preceeded by a review paper recently published in the open access journal Nature Conservation, to point out EU BON researchh interests and objectives for the future of biodiversity protection.

This is a group photo of the participants in the recent EU BON General Meeting in Crete, Greece.

The 2014 General Meeting brought together keynote speakers Jörg Freyhof (GEO BON, Executive Director), Marc Paganini (European Space Agency), Jerry Harrison (UNEP-WCMC) with the entire EU BON consortium to discuss collaborations between the project and other important initiatives in the areas of earth observation, particularly in remote sensing and in situ approaches to biodiversity data collection, as well as in the use and analysis of biodiversity data for forecasting and scenario building, and environmental policy.

"The high potential for satellite Earth Observations to support biodiversity monitoring is growing but is yet to be fully realised. The recent efforts of GEO BON, supported by the GEO Plenary and the CBD Conference of the Parties, to define a set of minimum essential observational requirements to monitor biodiversity trends will give considerable impetus for space agencies and for the remote sensing community to focus their work on a small set of well defined earth observations products that will serve the needs of the biodiversity community at large. In that context ESA is firmly engaged in supporting the development of these emerging Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). EU BON together with ESA can be pioneers in the early development and demonstration." comments Marc Paganini, European Space Agency, on the future collaboration between the two initiatives.

The world's biodiversity is in an ongoing dramatic decline that despite conservation efforts remains unprecedented in its speed and predicted effects on global ecosystem functioning and services. The lack of available integrated biodiversity information for decisions in sectors other than nature conservation has been recognized as a main obstacle and the need to provide readily accessible data to support political decisions has been integrated into the CBD's "Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020" and the Aichi targets. The recently published EU BON review paper points out how the project will use its potential to improve the interaction between citizens, science and policy for a better future of biodiversity protection.

EU BON aims to enable decision makers at various levels to make use of integrated and relevant biodiversity information adapted to their specific requirements and scales. Disparate and unconnected databases and online information sources will be integrated to allow improved monitoring and evaluation of biodiversity and measures planned or taken at different spatial and temporal scales. This requires strong efforts not only with regard to technical harmonization between databases, models, and visualization tools, but also to improve the dialogue between scientific, political, and social networks, spanning across several scientific disciplines as well as a variety of civil science organizations and stakeholder groups.

The project is focusing mainly on the European continent but contributes at the same time to the globally oriented Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), which itself contributes to the Group of Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). EU BON will build on existing information infrastructures such as GBIF, LifeWatch and national biodiversity data centres in Europe, and will integrate relevant biodiversity data from on-ground observations to remote sensing information, covering terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.

Original Source:

Hoffmann A, Penner J, Vohland K, Cramer W, Doubleday R, Henle K, Kõljalg U, Kühn I, Kunin WE, Negro JJ, Penev L, Rodríguez C, Saarenmaa H, Schmeller DS, Stoev P, Sutherland WJ, Ó Tuama É, Wetzel FT, Häuser CL (2014) Improved access to integrated biodiversity data for science, practice, and policy - the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON). Nature Conservation 6: 49–65. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.6.6498

The GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) develops and deploys new process and infrastructure components for the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI) and the broader GEOSS architecture.

To present the GCI an "Introduction to the GEOSS Common Infrastructure (GCI)" virtual workshop will be held today 21 May 2013 at 14:00 UTC.

Virtual meeting details: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/join/628333311

Europe's brown bear, wolf, wolverine, lynx – at least one of these species can now be found in 21 EU Member States. After a lengthy period of decline their numbers are growing once more, but coexistence with man can be problematic. In an effort to solve the social and economic problems that sometimes result from this new expansion, the European Commission has launched a platform where farmers, conservationists, hunters, landowners and scientists can exchange ideas and best practices on sharing the same land with large carnivores.

The EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores will support constructive dialogue between key stakeholder organisations at the European level. Launching the platform, EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "We need to treat our natural neighbours with respect – but we also need to heed the concerns of those whose lives are genuinely affected by their close proximity. My warm congratulations to the organisations that have worked together to set up this important platform, which represents a major step forward in efforts to address the issue of peaceful coexistence."

The European Union is home to five species of large carnivores. All suffered dramatic declines in numbers and distribution as a consequence of human activity, but increasing protection and public awareness about their vital role in healthy ecosystems have caused many populations to stabilize or increase, and to return to areas from which they had been absent for decades or even centuries.

While this recovery is seen by some as a great conservation success, it has not been without its opponents. The issue involves a diversity of stakeholders such as hunters, foresters, livestock producers, reindeer herders, landowners, rural communities, conservation organizations and the wider public. These groups are influenced by and perceive large carnivores in different ways, and in some cases these differences can be a source of conflict. The platform will facilitate exchanges of knowledge and promote ways and means to minimize, and wherever possible, find equitable solutions to these conflicts.

The platform launched today follows a number of efforts to understand the conflicts between stakeholders over large carnivores, the results of which were set out in workshops conclusions and in a report.

Next steps

The Platform will hold its first working session immediately following the official launch today, on 10 June. It will adopt terms of reference and a work plan. The Platform will hold one annual meeting and organize additional workshops on selected topics. It will be supported by a web-based resource centre that will serve as the main tool to disseminate information on the activities of the platform, identify good practices in the form of documents or a manual, act as a gateway to the portals of the member organisations, and host media resources such as press kits for journalists.

For more information:

Original press release: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-648_en.htm

Visit the large carnivore website of DG Environment at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/carnivores/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/index_en.htm

The signing ceremony and moderated panel discussion is streamed (https://new.livestream.com/corlive1/events/2977474/embed) on the internet (also see http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/carnivores/index_en.htm)

Funded by the "Severo Ochoa" Excellence Program awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the Doñana Biological Station (www.ebd.csic.es) seeks a Postdoctoral fellow for two-years with the aim to conduct research in the field of Biological Invasions. 

EBD-CSIC is interested to examine the multifaceted causes and consequences of biological invasions, a key component of global change. The ultimate goal is to improve our knowledge of the factors that influence the success and impacts of invasions by plants and vertebrates. For this purpose, we investigate species traits conferring invasive potential, the vulnerability of ecosystems to be invaded, and the sensitivity of native biodiversity to invasions under different environmental conditions and scenarios of global change.

Deadline for interested applicants: 17th June-17th July, 2014

Please see attached file for more details (download, pdf)

The 3rd International Conference on Biodiversity and the UN Millennium Development Goals will take place between October 29-31, 2014 in Aix-en-Provence, France. under the tematic title "Biodiversity and Food Security – From Trade-offs to Synergies".

Five  projects focused on citizen science began their life in autumn 2012 as a part of the topic ENV.2012.6.5-1 "Developing community based environmental monitoring and information systems using innovative and novel earth observation applications". Their goals include developing novel technologies and applications in the domain of Earth Observation; exploiting portable devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) and enabling effective participation by citizens in environmental stewardship based on broad stakeholder and user involvement in support of both community and policy priorities.

These projects are:

OmniScientis - combining the active participation of the stakeholders, especially citizens, with the implementation of innovative technologies to improve the governance of odour nuisance. OMNISCIENTIS implements an odour monitoring and information system allowing feedback in real-time, based on a web-based Service Platform.

Citclops - developing an observatory based on citizens’ science applications for the bio-optical monitoring of coast and ocean. Specifically, the Citclops action develops systems to retrieve and use data on the colour, transparency and fluorescence of seawater using low-cost sensors and smart phones along with contextual information.

COBWEB - seeking to design, develop and validate the necessary software infrastructure to facilitate and make possible the opportunistic harvesting and quality control of crowdsourced environmental data.

The 4th Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO 4) was officially launched on 6 Oct 2014, during the opening day of the Twelfth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 12) in Pyeongchang, Korea. Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) is the flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is a periodic report that summarizes the latest data on the status and trends of biodiversity and draws conclusions relevant to the further implementation of the Convention.

GBO 4 is a comprehensive report that serves as a mid-term analysis towards the 20 "Aichi Biodiversity Targets". The report states significant progress towards meeting some components of the majority of the Aichi  Biodiversity Targets. Some target components, such as conserving at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and  inland water areas, are on track to be met. However, in most cases this progress is seen as not sufficient to achieve the targets set for 2020, and additional action is required to keep the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 on course. 

The full report can be accessed here: http://www.cbd.int/gbo4/

The latest instalment of the Aichi Targets Passport is available now to download as an app from iTunes and Google Play.

As the flagship publication of the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP), the Aichi Targets Passport provides annual updates on the global biodiversity indicators that monitor progress towards the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the underlying Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

The suite of indicators presented in the Aichi Targets Passport was brought together by the BIP. They are as far as possible, global in their coverage, scientifically valid and peer reviewed, and relevant to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. In particular, indicators are presented to highlight the progress that has been made towards each target so far and what baselines exist from which future progress can be monitored.

The Aichi Targets Passport was first released as a "proof of concept" in October 2012 and included one or two indicators for each Aichi Biodiversity Target. Since the release of the Beta version, the BIP Partnership has continued working to enhance and increase the number of global indicators available for each of the targets. In its app format, the information contained in the Aichi Targets Passport is at your fingertips at any time.

This latest edition of the Aichi Targets Passport has been released in tandem with the fourth edition of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-4). In addition to information on which of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets is on-course to completion and which targets require more action, GBO-4 presents options that could halt further biodiversity loss.

The indicators presented in the Aichi Targets Passport are those contained in CBD decision XI/3 with some additional indicators that have been, or are being, developed to fill gaps.

To download the Aichi Targets Passport visit: http://www.bipindicators.net/resource/aichipassport 

iTunes: http://goo.gl/dOWujN

Google Play: http://goo.gl/BN6AfG

An EU-BON Workshop focusing on the DINA system - "Alpha version of mobilization system – the DINA-system MS141" - was hosted the 16. to 18. September 2014 by the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

Target group: programmers, developers and system engineers, but the workshop was open to anybody who was interested to learn more about the DINA-system.

Content included:

• Presentations from all DINA-partners
• APIs, service oriented architecture and road map for distributed development, guidelines and principles on how to build a module and join the DINA-system
• Case studies
• Delivery options: creating installations from hosted environment, virtual machines down to source code

For program, particpants list, presentations etc please vist the DINA wiki

Abstract: In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners’ use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain-referral survey. We then used a workshop-based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real-time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing-derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions?

The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) is looking to hire a Postdoctoral Scientist as part of the Nippon Foundation – University of British Columbia Nereus Program (www.nereusprogram.org). In association with the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, this international collaboration is focused on the prediction of future global ocean fisheries, and will contribute to global sustainable fisheries and ocean management.

The role: The primary research focus of this position is to work in collaboration with UNEP-WCMC, Department of Geography, Cambridge University, and other partners on the Nippon Foundation – UBC Nereus Program to research the drivers of change in productivity in critical marine and coastal ecosystems and their impacts on fisheries-related ecosystem services.

Key responsibilities: The post holder will build upon the work of a previous post-doctoral scientist to simulate global patterns of marine ecosystem structure and function with an emphasis on fisheries production and food security. Specifically, they will improve the ecological realism of an existing dynamic ecosystem model recently published by WCMC and Microsoft Research (the Madingley model, www.madingleymodel.org) – extending the representation of climate and incorporating data on fishing pressure.

The candidate: The successful candidate will hold a PhD in marine or coastal ecology, or a related discipline with a strong emphasis on spatial analysis and modelling. They will have extensive knowledge of and experience in mathematical ecosystem modelling, programming and spatial statistics. They will also have carried out significant research at the global scale and will hold a proven record of academic performance. Furthermore, they will have an understanding of the essential characteristics of successful partnership-building and will be able to demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively and internationally.

Closing date: 2014-11-28

More information available in the ortiginal job offer: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/vacancies/postdoctoral-scientist-ad861

An innovative workflow reveals new research potential of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). A recently published article in the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) used specimen records downloaded from BOLD in tabular format and imported these into a human-readable text developed in manuscript within the Pensoft Writting Tool (PWT). Data were used to study the species distributions of ten Nearctic species of braconid wasps from the Microgastrinae subfamily.

BOLD is originally designed to support the generation and application of DNA barcode data. However, the repository also holds unexplored treasures of additional data that provide unique potential for many other research uses.

Currently almost 4 million sequences (over 3.4 million of them DNA barcodes) are stored in BOLD, including coverage for more than 143K animal species, 53K plant species, and 16K fungi and other species, and this impressive storage of information is continuing to grow every day.

A team of researchers, led by Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana from the University of Guelph, Canada, have now explored how the unique amount of data stored on the BOLD platform can be utilised for new research purposes. Choosing tiny parasitic wasps for their case study they selected a sample of 630 specimens and 10 North American species. Data stored on BOLD were then used to uncover a significant number of new records of locality, provinces, territories and states.

The research was then secured a fast publication via BDJ, a community peer-reviewed, open-access, comprehensive online platform, designed to accelerate publishing, dissemination and sharing of biodiversity-related data of any kind.

"Import of structured data into human-readable text is important but it does not represent the whole story. More importantly, the data can be downloaded straight from the article text by anyone for further re-use, or be automatically exported to data aggregators, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). In this way, data platforms could get more peer-reviewed content from scholarly publications and scientists will be properly credited for their efforts" said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder of Pensoft Publishers.

Original Source:

Fernandez-Triana J, Penev L, Ratnasingham S, Smith M, Sones J, Telfer A, deWaard J, Hebert P (2014) Streamlining the use of BOLD specimen data to record species distributions: a case study with ten Nearctic species of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e4153. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e4153

Additional information:

The workflow is part of the Data Publishing Toolkit elaborated within the EU FP7 funded project EU BON (Grant agreement No 308454).

Data sharing tools developed by an EU project are helping scientists worldwide understand more about the planet’s millions of species. A new article published on CORDIS and DAE looks into the benefits of the FP7 funded project VIBRANT.

For the first time, a composite map of the world’s ecosystem assets has been produced, covering both marine and terrestrial realms. A report for the UNEP Division of Early Warning and Assessment by UNEP-WCMC presents global maps of assets such as biodiversity, freshwater resources and soil quality.

Natural capital is fundamental to human well-being. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, at least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. We are now facing a problem where natural capital has been harvested and degraded at a rate that threatens to undermine our well-being and future economic growth.

In their latest report UNEP-WCMC have combined information about key ecosystem assets into global maps covering terrestrial and marine realms. The assets included are freshwater resources, soil quality, organic carbon, terrestrial and marine biodiversity, and global fish catch (as a proxy for marine fish stocks). The report builds on a considerable body of work in the fields of natural capital accounting and the mapping of ecosystem services.

To read more and download the full report, please follow the link: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/news/towards-a-global-map-of-natural-capital

The consultation will run from the 7th of October to the 30th of November 2014. Comments received before the 31st of October 2014 will be, as much as possible, presented with the first results of this project during the IUCN World Parks Congress taking place in Sydney, Australia, 12-19 November 2014.

Contributors are not required to comment on the entire Consultation Document – any input will welcomed. 

More information available here.

A second WP4 (Link environment to biodiversity: analyses of patterns, processes and trends) meeting was held on 8 & 9 December 2014 in Brussels, to discuss progress towards objectives and set plans for future development.

Hot topics during the meeting were: GBIF data: who will use them, and how; development and use of methodology; collaboration between WP4 and the relevant WP3 (Improving tools and methods for data analysis and interface) and WP5 (EU BON testing and validation of concepts, tools, and services); as well ways to translate WP4 results for the use of policy and practice.

Image: Participants at the meeting;  Credit: Dirk Schmeller

UNEP-WCMC, Dutch Butterfly Conservation, and EU BON recently convened a workshop of 14 global experts from the field of butterfly monitoring, specifically the tropics and subtropics. The workshop has catalysed the process for the development of global butterfly monitoring guidelines and the creation of a new specialist butterfly monitoring group.

Hosted by GEO BON (Group on Earth Biodiversity Observation Network) at the offices of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in Leipzig, Germany, the meeting took place on 8^th and 9^th December 2014. The global experts attending the meeting shared their significant experience and knowledge from the tropics, sub-tropics and deserts; including countries such as Papua New Guinea, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, USA, South Africa, Malaysia, and Liberia.

Blue Copper (Lycaena helle); Credit: Chris van Swaay

Butterfly populations have been monitored in Europe for over 35 years. This monitoring has used standardized protocols, produced long-term datasets, and has resulted in indicators tracking the changes in butterfly populations. These data are proving to be very valuable for informing decision-makers on biodiversity changes and are used at local, national and regional levels to inform conservation management decisions and policies. As a result of the success of schemes in Europe, butterfly monitoring is growing and is now being implemented in countries outside of Europe including North America and Israel using similar protocols.

However, the protocols for butterfly monitoring in temperate regions are not applicable in regions with high numbers of butterfly species such as the tropics. In these biomes methodologies such as fruit-bait traps, counts of puddling butterflies, and timed counts have been used. The aim of this meeting, therefore, was to agree a standard set of methodologies that could be applied globally and from which data could be aggregated through an Essential Biodiversity Variable into a Global Butterfly Indicator.

The main agenda items and points of discussion were an overview of current butterfly monitoring, structured by continent and habitat, with emphasis on the different protocols; steps to process count data into indicators and trends; essential variables required to measure changes in butterfly populations; compatibility of different protocols and the logistics of creating a global indicator; whether the entire species diversity should be measured or just a portion; and agreement on a standard set monitoring protocols.

This workshop has catalysed the development of a number of products, including: global butterfly monitoring guidelines; the development of a Global Butterfly Indicator; and a suite of scientific journal articles on butterfly monitoring in different regions of the world. The development of an Essential Biodiversity Variable (EBV) ‘butterfly population abundance’ that will facilitate the harmonisation of butterfly monitoring data from different habitat types and regions is also being developed. A new butterfly monitoring specialist group has also been established to provide support for practitioners working in the field of butterfly monitoring and to continue momentum from this workshop.

The standardization of monitoring protocols that can be implemented in any country is crucial for the robust estimation of butterfly populations globally to assess progress towards the 2020 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These guidelines can also provide the foundation for developing scenarios for the future of butterfly populations under different policy and management options. The outcomes of this meeting provide a clear path to increased harmonization among the efforts of global butterfly experts in different regions and towards the establishment of a Global Butterfly Indicator.

We would like to thank GEO BON and EU BON for funding this meeting.

Participants of the butterfly monitoring experts meeting at iDiv, Leipzig, Germany, December 2014

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is organising an open competition with a view to recruiting a contract agent to work as Project Manager within the area of biodiversity indicators and assessments and further with a view to establishing a reserve list.

THE AGENCY

The EEA is an Agency of the European Union (EU) and one of the decentralised Union bodies. The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement inEurope’s environment, through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.

More information is available on the official EEA page: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/jobs/eeavacancy.2015-01-14.3625557226

A new policy brief featured a recent issue of Science for Environment Policy highlights a new study suggesting that the Aichi biodiversity targets, set by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, are unlikely to be achieved by 2020— despite some progress towards halting the global loss of biodiversity. The authors of the study call for policy responses to be strengthened if the ongoing loss of nature is to be stopped.

The loss of biodiversity affects the healthy functioning of ecosystems and the benefits they provide to people. The ongoing loss of the world’s natural diversity, which underpins all life, prompted Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002 to pledge reductions in the global decline in biodiversity by 2010.

The 2010 targets set by the CBD were missed. Consequently, a new set of goals to curb the loss of species and ecosystem services, supported by the 20 Aichi targets, were adopted by 193 nations in 2010. The Aichi targets, to be achieved by 2020, are part of the global Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020.

A global panel of 51 experts, drawn from a wide range of institutions, has recently assessed mid-term progress towards meeting these targets. They based their assessment on an analysis of 55 indicators (for example, extent of wetlands) selected from 163 potential indicators, which are key measures of the world’s biodiversity. They built statistical models for each indicator, based on their status in 2010 and data trends and then projected changes to the indicators by 2020. The value for each indicator in 2010 was then compared with the projected value in 2020 to assess progression towards the 2020 Aichi targets.

Read more in the original SEP policy brief. 

Original Study: 

Tittensor, D.P., Walpole, M., Hill, S.L.L. et al. (2014) A mid-term analysis of progress toward international biodiversity targets. Science 346 (6206): 241- 244. DOI:10.1126/science.1257 484

New research published with the support of the FP7 large-scale bioinformatics project Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) and the Alien Challenge COST action reveals the importance of open data in the study and control of invasive alien species. The study was published online in open access in the journal Management of Biological Invasions.

Invasive alien species cause a wide variety of problems, including issues related to conservation; to human and animal health; to agriculture and to fisheries management. But how can science be useful to manage such potential issues?

"To advise policy makers and inform land managers on the dangers posed by and how to fight alien species we need to understand the invasion process. Ideally, we would like to be able to predict the causes, routes and progression of invasions." explains Dr. Quentin Groom, Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium.

Recently, several research groups have pioneered the process of "Horizon Scanning" for new alien species, also there have been parallel developments in the creation of dynamic ecological models to predict invasions. However, the greatest limitation to these advances is the lack of suitable data.

"The problem of invasive species is international and rapidly changing. Data are required from an extensive area, for many species and for a long period but what is currently available is patchy and often inaccessible. We argue for the importance of open data to tackle the problem of invasive alien species." explains Dr. Groom.

This new research reviews why access to data are so important to invasive alien species research and gives an overview of the reasons why data are unavailable to researchers. Currently access to data is patchy and is restricted in many ways:

• Legally, the use of restrictive data licensing blocks its use.
• Technically, many software systems don't adequately support sharing, particularly in their provision of unique identifiers.
• Culturally, data secrecy is the default position for most organizations.

Currently invasive species data is patchy and often restricted legally, through the use of restrictive data licensing. Credit: Peter Desmet

Gradually, data are becoming more accessible and attitudes towards data access are changing. The advent of data publications allows researchers to attract citations from their data, while simultaneously making their data accessible and discoverable.

The community of biodiversity observers is highly fragmented and the creation of a European biodiversity network will improve communication so that grassroots biodiversity surveyors will understand issues of data sharing, citation and licensing that are so critical for a rapid response to invasive species.

###

Original Source:

Groom QJ, Desmet P, Vanderhoeven S & Adriaens T (2015) The importance of open data for invasive alien species research, policy and management. Management of Biological Invasions 6: in press. doi: 10.3391/mbi.2015.6.2.02

A new aticle published in Ecology Letters  looks into the indirect interactions among tropical tree species through shared rodent seed predators. The reasearch is part of the work of EU BON postdoc Carol X. Garzon-Lopez.

Abstract: The coexistence of numerous tree species in tropical forests is commonly explained by negative dependence of recruitment on the conspecific seed and tree density due to specialist natural enemies that attack seeds and seedlings (‘Janzen–Connell’ effects). Less known is whether guilds of shared seed predators can induce a negative dependence of recruitment on the density of different species of the same plant functional group. We studied 54 plots in tropical forest on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, with contrasting mature tree densities of three coexisting large seeded tree species with shared seed predators. Levels of seed predation were far better explained by incorporating seed densities of all three focal species than by conspecific seed density alone. Both positive and negative density dependencies were observed for different species combinations. Thus, indirect interactions via shared seed predators can either promote or reduce the coexistence of different plant functional groups in tropical forest.

Carol X. Garzon-Lopez et. al. (2015) Indirect interactions among tropical tree species through shared rodent seed predators: a novel mechanism of tree species coexistence. Ecology Letters. doi: 10.1111/ele.12452

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences offers a new position for Postdoctoral researcher in ecology: Spatial population dynamics at a species’ northern range margin at the Department of Ecology.

The department conducts empirical and theoretical research for sustainable forest and agricultural production and efficient biological conservation. Research on populations, communities, and ecosystems forms the foundation for studying the influence of land use and climate on animals, plants, soils nutrient status, and greenhouse gas balances. Solutions are sought that will mitigate climate change, preserve threatened species, benefit biological diversity and ecosystem services, and control pests in forest and agricultural landscapes as well as in urban areas.

Duties: The postdoc researcher will study spatial population dynamics in an insect at the northern margin of its global distribution, by taking advantage of a data from a long-term study of the butterfly Pyrgus armoricanus. The main purpose of the project is to understand how climate, habitat fragmentation and habitat quality influence the regional distribution and population dynamics of this butterfly, and to use this knowledge to predict population persistence and distribution in an altered climate and after changed land use. The successful candidate wull also analyze time-series data on population dynamics in relation to weather and habitat quality. There will also be opportunities to model future regional distribution or population persistence under scenarios of future land use and climate change.

Place of work: Uppsala

Form of employment: Temporary employment, 1 year.

Deadlines: June 1, 2015

For more information on requirements and how to apply, lease visit the official job offer page: http://www.slu.se/sv/om-slu/fristaende-sidor/aktuellt/lediga-tjanster/las-mer/?eng=1&Pid=1875

Sustainable governance of our biological resources demands reliable scientific knowledge to be accessible and applicable to the needs of society. To achieve this, the EU BON project aims to develop a European Biodiversity Observation Network that facilitates open access to biodiversity data of relevance to environmental policy, and to develop innovative platforms for sharing and conveying this information through visually effective and policy-relevant media.

As part of this endeavour, EU BON partners FishBase Information and Research Group (FIN), the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre collaborated to produce an infographic titled ‘Climate Change & Biodiversity: What may happen to bony fishes in the North Sea?’. This infographic explains the economic and ecological importance of bony fishes in the context of the North Sea. It also visualises potential changes to species diversity and composition over time, using habitat suitability and climate change predictions. These changes have been projected to 2100 based on modelled environmental conditions under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s A2 emissions scenarios. The projections have direct policy relevance to Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which seeks to understand trends in climatic impacts on community composition in ecosystems, and to thereby minimize these impacts.

The infographic was published on the 1^st June 2015 on page 26 of The Parliament Magazine’s ‘Green Week’ edition (Issue 413), which is distributed to all members of European Parliament, the European Commission, Presidency Office, Party political groups, and various other EU institutions, with over 50,000 readers worldwide. 

The annual EU BON General Meeting was successfully held from 1 to 4 June 2015 at the Clare College Conferencing, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 

The meeting was attended by a total of 85 participants with various organizational background and relation to EU BON. Among these were almost all EU BON alongside representatives of eight associate partners and many guests.

Participants at the EU BON General Meeting, 2015; Credit:  Dirk Schmeller

One of the highlights of the meeting was its very start with three inspiring keynote speakers. 

Among these, Bill Sutherland from the University of Cambridge started off to give an interesting speech about the progress and future plans on combining Biodiversity science and policy. Second was Gary Geller from the GEO secretariat who talked about GEO, GEOSS and GEO BON, its vision and goals. 
Later on, Johannes Peterseil from LTER-Europe shared some interesting thoughts about linking ecosystem research and earth observation through the cooperation between LTER-Europe and EU BON. 

During the meeting other relevant projects were also introduced to all participants. These were DataOne and Species 2000/Catalogue of Life and two new EU projects Ecopotential and Globis-B. 

The General Meeting included six thematic sessions on highly relevant EU BON topics, followed by many cross-task modules which led to better cooperation and communication between work packages and tasks. The exchange of experience gave new input to all work packages and set the milestones for the work ahead. 

Presentations from the meeting will be uploaded shortly.

PRESENTATIONS:

AGENDA - EU BON 3rd General Assembly

Keynote speakers: 

W.Sutherland - Biodiversity science and policy

G.Geller - GEO / GEOSS / GEOBON

J.Peterseil - Linking ecosystem research and earth observation

Other projects:

B.Wilson - DataONE

C.Flann - Species 2000 Catalogue of Life

C.Marangi - Ecopotential

W.Los - Globis-B

EU BON presentations:

C.Haeuser - EU BON core elements for an integrated biodiversity information system

U.Koljalg - Data mobilization strategy and show case

H.Saarenmaa - European biodiversity portal

Y.Gavish - Developing EU BON's site-specific portal

E.Regan - Stakeholder requirements

I.Geijzendorffer - Context of EU BON

Selection of pictures from the meeting:

A new issue in Science for Environment Policy "Monitoring Nature: Research Developments" provides a flavour of recent work by scientists in the area of biodiversity monitoring to highlight both up-to-date approaches to conservation and evaluation, and how long-term monitoring data could be used more effectively in management and policy decisions.

This Issue also includes topics such as monitoring to environmental policy, remote sensing, citizen science, DNA barcoding and more.

Find this issue on the SEP website here, or go straight to download.

The joint BESAFE/BIOMOT Conference "Motivations and arguments to act for biodiversity" took place on 10 & 11 June 2015 in Brussels, Les Ateliers des Tanneurs. The main objective of the conference was to present alternative ways to inspire innovative policy making to act for nature.

Based on four years of large-scale research by the two European projects, the conference aimed to define what could really work to motivate society to act for nature. The conference involved a wide audience in high-level keynotes, science-policy interface sessions, stakeholder meetings and panels. 

The joint event was also a platform for the BESAFE project Final Conference where the beta version of the BESAFE tool was presented and tested. The tool is planned as a user-friendly application where stakeholders can browse project results and background information to help them to help them to improve biodiversity argumentation.

A new EU BON acknowledging special issue "Earth Observation for Ecosystems Monitoring in Space and Time: A Special Issue in Remote Sensing" published in the open access journal Remote Sensing provides a collection of  important researchers in the field, as well as the most challenging aspects of the application of remote sensing to study ecosystems. 

The 2016 GEO BON Open Science Conference: "Biodiversity and ecosystem Services Monitoring for the 2020 Targets and beyond. Building on observations for user needs" will take place from 4 to 9 July 2016 in Leipzig, Germany. 

Biodiversity Science is facing enormous challenges as the pressures upon the earth’s biotic systems are rapidly intensifying and we are unlikely to reach the CBD 2020 Aichi Targets. But how far or close are we to reach the targets? The GEO BON Open Science Conference on "Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Monitoring for the 2020 Targets and beyond" will assess this question. The conference is open to the wide scientific public and is sponsored and co-organized by iDiv, UFZ, SASCAL (others to come).

For more information please visit: http://conf2016.geobon.org

A new EU BON derived open access paper looking into Earth Observations (EO) and the Aichi Targets was recently published  in the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation.

The paper reviews the ABTs and EBVs against direct and indirect, operational and emerging, EO data products. The review was conducted by consulting expert opinion and categorically rating the Targets based on the adequacy of currently available EO technology to build indicators per target. The potential RS-EBVs were also matched with their respective EO data products.

To summarize this information a monitoring framework is proposed where RS-EBVs are used to harmonize observations prior to the indicator stage. Potential obstacles to implementing this framework and challenges to its adoption by the wider science and policy community are discussed. Finally, upcoming satellite missions which could offer potential for assessing global biodiversity status and trends beyond the 2020 timeframe of the CBD's current Strategic Plan for Biodiversity are discussed.

Original Source: 

O'Connor B. et. al. (2015) Earth observation as a tool for tracking progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation. DOI: 10.1002/rse2.4