The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network
Authors: Walter Jetz, Jennifer McGowan, D. Scott Rinnan, Hugh P. Possingham, Piero Visconti, Brian O’Donnell and Maria Cecilia Londoño-Murcia Abstract: Advances in spatial biodiversity science and nationally available data have enabled the development of indicators that report on biodiversity outcomes, account for uneven global biodiversity between countries, and provide direct
Students and biodiversity scientists whose research was upended by the pandemic held an online datathon to attach dates and locations to the world’s largest genomic database. Many people know that scientists measure the biodiversity of an ecosystem by estimating the total number of different species present. Biodiversity can be used
New publication by Ruth Y. Oliver, Carsten Meyer, Ajay Ranipeta, Kevin Winner, and Walter Jetz, in PLOS Biology The post-2020 global biodiversity framework relies critically on the documentation and monitoring of species distributions and changes over time. Fortunately, global and national biodiversity records data have exploded in the last two
In our Digital Age, human beings are confronted with two major environmental crises: climate change and biodiversity loss. The first has garnered widespread public attention and funding to tackle, whereas the latter operates more quietly in the background. One of the key challenges to solve the biodiversity crisis is the
Bioacoustic monitoring with machine learning (ML) models can provide valuable insights for informed decision-making in conservation efforts. In this study, the team built deep convolutional neural networks to analyze field recordings and classify calls of regionally rare bird species. Limited training data is a challenge for model running on rare species. This
The Ecosystem Services Working Group highlights three key challenges in the development and implementation of monitoring schemes and indicators of ecosystem services (ES): (1) combining ES observations, data and methods across scales; (2) identifying operational ES metrics that consider the interactions between people and ecosystems; and (3) integrating the diversity
Co leads of the Genetic Composition Working Group, Sean Hoban and Maggie Hunter led 31 authors from 18 countries on a publication to Biological Conservation. This paper (open access here) contains commentary and recommended changes to the Convention on Biological Diversity draft post 2020 framework, to ensure all aspects of
There has been enormous progress over the last half decade in the collation and publication of global datasets on alien species distributions, for various plant and animal groups and in terrestrial and marine environments. One of the key hurdles that remains for the construction of Essential Biodiversity Variables for alien
Co leads of the Genetic Composition Working Group, Sean Hoban and Anna MacDonald, were among 21 authors (including several other GEO BON members and IUCN Specialist Group members) on a letter to Science published March 6 here. The letter is titled “Post 2020 Goals Overlook Genetic Diversity”. It concerns an
New paper published proposing a new way of measuring multifunctionality across spatial scales, illustrated with a European-wide dataset of 18 ecosystem services. Our assessment captures not only the diversity of ecosystem services supplied within each municipality (alpha-multifunctionality), but also the unique contribution of each municipality to the regional ecosystem service