NASA invites video gamers and citizen scientists to embark on virtual ocean research expeditions to help map coral reefs around the world in an effort to better understand these threatened ecosystems. During the past several years, researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley have developed new instruments
Towards “BON in the Cloud”
GEO BON continues promoting the development of infrastructures supporting the production and dissemination of the Essential Biodiversity Variables and derived indicators. The workshop “BON in the Cloud”, held in Leipzig on February 13-14th, identified the most pressing needs for developing cloud-based systems in support of biodiversity observation networks. Workshop participants
Measuring ecosystem multifunctionality across scales
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
BID-REX: bridging data and decisions
The Interreg BID-REX project has led the way in bridging the gap between data and decisions. Now the project is in its implementation phase. BID-REX, launched in 2016, involves seven European regions from six different countries – Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Spain and the UK – in a bid to
Essential Ocean Variables and Essential Biodiversity Variables – How are they related?
Measurements of the status and trends of key indicators for the ocean and marine life are required to inform policy and management in the context of growing human uses of marine resources, coastal development, and climate change. Two synergistic efforts identify specific priority variables for monitoring life in the sea:
Global biodiversity to be mapped with the help of specialized automated equipment and statistical mathematics
A project led by University of Helsinki professor Otso Ovaskainen will automate the collection of DNA and audio samples and camera trap images from over 450 locations around the world, and employ top-of-the-line statistical analysis methods. The project could potentially map up to half the global diversity of insects and