GOFC-GOLD LC Office and the GEO BON have just released a new sourcebook for biodiversity monitoring in tropical forests with remote sensing.
This sourcebook is the result of a joint effort counting the participation of more than 70 authors. The sourcebook is freely accessible from here.
IDENTIFICATION OF HARD BOTTOM INTRODUCED INVERTEBRATE SPECIES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL RILEVANCE: INFLUENCE ON FOULING SUCCESSIONAL PATTERN
Evaluation of the influence of alien species in environmental monitoring
Organizers: Prof.Adriana Giangrande and Dr Cinzia Gravili – Laboratory of Zoology and Marine Biology, University of Salento, Italy
Where: Lecce, 19/09/2016 – 25/09/2016, BIOforIU Premises (University of Salento)
Deadline for registration: 30/06/2016 – The course is limited to 18 participants. Seats will be reserved in the order of registration (Availability is on first come first served basis)
Preliminary programme: http://medalien.com/preliminary-program/
Registration: http://medalien.com/product/course-alien-species-lecce/
The course will take place at the University of Salento (Lecce) for six days (from Monday to Saturday), under the guidance of Prof. Adriana Giangrande (specialist of alien species and polychaete annelids) and Dr. Cinzia Gravili (specialist of alien species and cnidarians, with particularly respect to the group Hydrozoa). The activity will be supported by the staff and the working group of the Laboratory of Systematic in Lecce coordinated by Professor Giangrande. and will take place in new Laboratories BioForIU
The course aims to analyze the influence of alien species on settlement patterns of fouling communities of the marine ecosystem, but is mainly focused on taxonomy and identification of sessile macroinvertebrate species. During the course tools to identify the major taxonomic phyla of the sessile macrofaunal groups of the fouling (Porifera, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Bryozoa, Polychaeta, Ascidiacea) will be provided considering that the identification of organisms to the species level is one of the major limitations within environmental monitoring of the marine environment. The course will consist of several lectures followed by laboratory practice on both alive and preserved material.
The course will provide teaching aids in the form of guides and other materials with reference (the Zoology and Marine Biology laboratories have reference collections of different phyla characterizing fouling)
It will include a series of seminars about alien species in the Mediterranean basin and their influence on the fouling succession. The practical aspects will be addressed through the material observation (both on material that participants can bring with them and fresh material for alive observation that will be provided by the organizers).
The material will be collected in the Gulf of Taranto which represents one of the most important site in Mediterranean concerning the abundance of alien species, only second to the Venice lagoon.
Website: http://medalien.com
The 1st workshop of the EU Horizon 2020 project GLOBIS-B (“GLOBal Infrastructures for Supporting Biodiversity research”) took place in Leipzig from February 29 until March 2.
GLOBIS-B, coordinated by the University of Amsterdam as part of LifeWatch, supports research infrastructures active in biodiversity and ecosystems research from Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, South Africa and the USA.
More specifically, the project is focused on potential services supporting research on Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs).
An overview of the project and the outcomes of its 1st workshop are summarized at http://www.globis-b.eu/news/7/first_workshop_globis-b_held_in_leipzig.html.
From 22-27 May, MSc and PhD students, as well as early career researchers, are participating to the training course in Taxonomy organised by LifeWatch Italy and DEST in Florence (responsible Dr Bartolozzi).
The course is an opportunity fro young researchers to deepen their knowledge on how to organise and do field research on insects (mainly Coleoptera), how to set and identify the collected material and how to prepare a report on the results of the field study.
2 febbraio 2016
Ore 11:00
Conferenza Stampa di Lancio dell’iniziativa “Ecology 150° Anniversary”
Lecce, Sala della Grottesca, Rettorato, Università del Salento
Prof. Alberto Basset (Presidente Federazione delle Società Europee di Ecologia – EEF), Prof.ssa Emilia Chiancone(Pres. Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze), Giuseppe De Matteis (WWF Oasi), Prof. Michele Carducci (Prof. di Diritto Comparato), Stefano Cristante (Prof. di Sociologia della Comunicazione), Nicola Grasso (Prof. di Diritto Costituzionale).
Ore 12:30
Visita guidata presso la Riserva Naturale delle Cesine
Vernole – gps: 40.350098, 18.336225
Prof. Alberto Basset (Presidente della Federazione delle Società Europee di Ecologia – EEF), Giuseppe De Matteis (WWF Oasi).
Nel 1866, Ernst Haeckel ha formalizzato il concetto di ecologia (dal greco oikos e logos) come “la scienza delle interazioni tra organismi e componenti biotiche e abiotiche del loro ambiente”, caratterizzando l’ecologia in stretta relazione con fisiologia, biogeografia e teoria evoluzionistica.
In questi 150 anni l’ecologia si è evoluta ed è cresciuta come scienza ed è completamente cambiato il contesto socio-economico in cui agiamo. Mai come oggi l’ecologia e società sono strettamente connesse, e mai come oggi diviene fondamentale informare i cittadini e coinvolgerli attivamente nella protezione della biodiversità e dei nostri ecosistemi. Queste le ragioni che ci spingono a riflettere sul concetto di ecologia e le sue implicazioni per la società, celebrando questo 150° anniversario con una serie di attività rivolte al grande pubblico, ed in particolare agli studenti, creando occasioni privilegiate di incontro e condivisione sui temi dell’ecologia. In particolare, vogliamo costruire un percorso che parta dalle origini dell’ecologia, ne discuta l’attuale significato e apra un dibattito sulle direzioni che come scienza dovrebbe o potrebbe prendere.
Le attività pertinenti la celebrazione sono portate avanti insieme a numerose organizzazioni scientifiche e non, dall’Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze, alla Rete di ricerca lungo termine LTER, WWF Oasi, LifeWatch Italia e molte altre; esse assumeranno format diversi, da classiche conferenze e seminari, ad attività di citizen science e per le scuole.
Over last summer, Rete LTER-Italia and LifeWatch Italia have walked and ridden together with citizens three different routes discoverying ecosystems and biodiversity, and introducing the public to science on the field.
Three documentaries tell us about this initiative.
Today, Il Sole 24 Ore, Italian leading newspaper, dedicates a full page article to LufeWatch Italia, in its section “Eventi – Programmi & Progetti” de “Il Sole 24 Ore”.
Digital version in attachement.
On 16 December, from 10:00 to 13:30, the LifeWatch Italy Annual Conference will be held in Rome, the library of the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze (Villa Torlonia, via Spallanzani 1/A).
During the conference will be discussing LifeWatch use from a user perspective, issues related to open data; ongoing activities will be presented and strategic priorities highlighted.
All presentations and contributions are available here.
In the framework of the Taxonomy Training, LifeWatch Italy, together with the Distributed European School of Taxonomy, will hold the course “Entomological research in protected areas”.
The aim is to teach students and young researchers how to organise and do field research on insects (mainly Coleoptera), how to set and identify the collected material and how to prepare a report on the results of the field study.
Deadline for application 1st March 2016, course start May 2016, duration 1 week
Duration of training
1 week (5 days, from Monday to Friday)
Training period
May 2016 – dates to be confirmed
Target Audience
MSc students, PhD students as well as early career researchers.
The course will only take place if a minimum of 4 participants is reached.
Practical experiences
– Techniques (collection, preparation)
– Ecological sampling techniques (e.g. fresh water invertebrates)
– Management of the entomological collection in a Museum
– Identification of the main families of various Insect orders using keys
– Literature search, use of catalogues
Field experiences
– Entomological survey in the Maremma Natural Park (Tuscany coast) OR – in alternative – an entomological survey in an hilly site in central Tuscany
Seminars
The Red Book of the Insects of Tuscany
An example: the entomological researches of the Museum in the Prato province
Alien species
Course language
English
Name of mentor / supervisor
Dr. Luca Bartolozzi
Institution and training venue
Museo di Storia Naturale – Sezione di Zoologia – Università di Firenze
Zoology Section – Department of Entomology
“La Specola”, via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, Italy
Course organiser
Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST)
Registration fee
€ 250 (EURO)
Participants are responsible for their own travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses.
Registration
Deadline for registration: 1 March 2016.
Click here for the registration form.
Payment
Payment details and deadline will be provided upon acceptance to the training.
Grants from the Museo di Storia Naturale of Firenze and from the Distributed European School of Taxonomy
The Museum of Natural History, University of Florence, is offering two grants of 650 EURO each to attend this course.
In addition, DEST is offering as well two grants of 650 EURO each to attend this course.
Granting priority will be given to trainees living and studying/working in Low-income economies, Lower-middle-income economies or Upper-middle-income economies (following the classification of the World Bank, see list of eligible countries).
If awarded, the participant will receive 400 EURO in cash as refund upon arrival, plus waive of the registration fee (250 EURO). Please write your motivation for applying for a grant within the ‘grant request’ space of the registration form. If a grant is requested, a recommendation letter should be sent by one referee (e.g. your supervisor) before the registration deadline of 1 March 2016 to dest-training@naturalsciences.be
Family farming is the most widespread form of food production in vast areas of the world. In such areas, food security is jeopardized by global phenomena like climate change, limited access to land and resources, social conflicts and inequality, and rural abandonment. Agrobiodiversity has an important role to play in the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and in making family farming sustainable.
This seminar, in line with the theme of the 2016 World Food Day, highlights the key role of Agrobiodiversity – tackled at the genetic, species and habitat level – to address global challenges for food production and family farming and to provide locally viable solutions. The seminar draws upon the experience of the International PhD Programme on Agrobiodiversity, run by Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy since 2004 in collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences. Students from Asian and African countries will present the state of family farming in their own countries and how their PhD project may help provide tailor-made solutions based on Agrobiodiversity.
The programme is available here.