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
GEO BON welcomes Jean-Michel Lord as Developer and Scrum Master
It is a rare chance to contribute to the preservation of the ecosystems as a software engineer. I am more than happy to put my software development and Scrum Master abilities at the service of GEO BON. Before taking up this position, I was serving the cause of eye disabilities
Global and national trends, gaps, and opportunities in documenting and monitoring species distributions
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
Acoustic detection of regionally rare bird species through deep convolutional neural networks
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
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Belize National Marine Habitat Map (NMHM)
The GEO BON-supported AI for the Belize National Marine Habitat Map (NMHM) project focuses on updating Belize’s existing Landsat-based two-decade old NMHM using recent, higher spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery, updated mapping techniques, and leveraging the power of Microsoft’s Azure. In late 2020, the project held a stakeholder workshop
The journey to monitoring ecosystem services: Are we there yet?
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
GEO BON’s participation in SBSTTA-24
The first part of the twenty-fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-24) took place online from 3 May to 9 June 2021. The event, which was postponed and delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consisted of three blocks of plenary and contact group sessions,
AOGEO Task Group 2: Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network (APBON)
APBON is supported by the Ministry of the Environment Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Japan, Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC), National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and all other voluntary contributions.
Highlights from the Tropical Andes Observatory (TAO) Workshop
Focal Ecosystems, Conceptual Models and Essential Biodiversity Variables The first TAO Regional Workshop was held between May 17th – 20th. During this 4-day productive timespan, specialists, users, and producers of biodiversity data met in 8 different working sessions that allowed to deepen the knowledge regarding biodiversity data needs in our
A CBD-focused year for the Genetic Composition Working Group (GCWG)
One of the aims of the Genetic Composition Working Group (GCWG) is to support the integration of genetic data and monitoring into management and policy. Over the last year, the GCWG’s main focus has been the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), given the urgent need to improve the wording