GBits

no. 31 Nov 2012

GBIF AT CBD COP 11� � � � � � � � 2free and open access to biodiversity data

Brazil joins GBIF

GBIF promotes shared data culture at CBD
conference

GBIF PUBLICATIONS� � � � � � � � 2
New guide for compiling national species
checklists
Peer review option proposed for biodiversity data

Brazil has become the latest country to join GBIF, opening
up a new phase of scientific collaboration with one of theworld’s most biodiverse countries.
The decision has been warmly welcomed by scientists,
officials and politicians within Brazil, and across the global
biodiversity informatics community.
Some reactions to Brazil’s decision to join GBIF:“This really is a fantastic thing, it is an enormous
advance, (helping Brazil) to know how to use all its
biodiversity in an intelligent way to promote a new typeof development.” Senator Rodrigo Rollemberg, Chair,
Senate Environment Commission, speech on the floor of
the Brazilian Senate, 9 November.

INFORMATICS � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 3
IPT v2.0.4 released
GBIF data portal now in Japanese and Polish

SCIENCE AND POLICY � � � � � � 3
Record number of new papers highlighted in GBits
Science Supplement
Symposium showcases use of GBIF-mediated data

NEW DATA� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4
Argentina
Ireland
Colombia
Germany“All Participants in GBIF will share the excitement.
Many countries see Brazil’s participation in GBIF asvital to global efforts in biodiversity conservation andmanagement.” Joanne Daly, Chair, GBIF Governing
Board.

United States“The official association of the country with GBIF
is a sign of the importance of knowledge for the
management of our immense natural resources.” Carlos
Nobre, national secretary for policies and programmes,
Brazilian ministry of science, technology and innovation(MCTI).

Japan

The Netherlands/Croatia
Belgium
France/Guadeloupe

AROUND THE NETWORK� � � � 5
Norway hailed as prolific data publisher
GBIF Belgium develops new regional biodiversity
data portal

TRAINING � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 6
Taking biological collections to the next level

UPCOMING EVENTS � � � � � � � � 6

Mercedes Bustamante, from Brazil’s ministry of science, technology
and innovation, acting Head of Delegation, joins staff at GBIF’s
Secretariat in Copenhagen to toast the country’s official entry into
the network.

To subscribe to the newsletter, please contact info@gbif.org

GBits
The formal step of becoming a GBIF Associate
Participant was the signature of the GBIF
Memorandum of Understanding by the Brazilian
Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation,
Marco Antônio Raupp, on 24 October.
Brazil is currently setting up an Information System
for Brazilian Biodiversity and Ecosystems (SIB-Br),in partnership with the Global Environment Facility(GEF), involving an investment of US$28 million. The
new GBIF national node for Brazil will establish aninterface enabling data mobilized through this system
to be accessed globally via the GBIF network.
Read more…

GBIF AT CBD COP 11
GBIF promotes shared data culture at
CBD conference
GBIF used the 11th Conference of Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity (COP 11),organized in Hyderabad, India, in October, to support
a number of initiatives to enhance the quantity andquality of data available to monitor the state ofbiodiversity and ecosystems.
With a number of other partners, the GBIF Secretariat
signed a Memorandum of Collaboration with the CBD
to set up a Global Invasive Alien Species Information
Partnership (GIASIP), aimed at improving theinformation available to governments to help tackle
this major driver of biodiversity loss.

A decision of the COP relating to invasive alien
species “welcomes the work of the Global
Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to improve
the interoperability of online databases and networks
and facilitate the use of information necessary
to conduct risk and/or impact assessments andencourages Parties, Governments and relevant
institutions and organizations to participate indeveloping interoperable information systems thatcan be used in developing early-detection and rapidresponse systems.”
Also during COP 11:• The GBIF Secretariat hosted a side event toreport progress on the Global Biodiversity
Informatics Outlook, a framework for harnessing
data capture, data access and modelling to build
better understanding of biodiversity, helping
countries to meet targets to halt its loss.
• Another side event presented initiatives involving
GBIF partners to encourage online publicationof biodiversity data from new sources, including
data from camera traps set by wildlife managers
in India, data collected by local governments andfrom environmental impact assessments.
• GBIF Executive Secretary Donald Hobern
presented on the mobilization of botanicaldata in support of the Global Strategy for
Plant Conservation (GSPC) and its national
implementation.
Full story and presentations…

GBIF PUBLICATIONS
New guide for compiling national species
checklists
GBIF has published a new guide on policies andprocedures to capture information for national
species checklists.
The Best practice guide for compiling, maintaining
and disseminating national species checklists is atool to help improve the capacity of a country to
document, and thus better manage, its biodiversity.
Freely available through GBIF’s Online Resource
Centre, it draws on the particular experiences ofSouth Africa’s checklist development to offer insights
and detailed advice relevant to other countries.
Download guide…

Peer review option proposed forbiodiversity data
Braulio Dias, Executive Secretary, CBD and Donald Hobern,
Executive Secretary, GBIF, signing the memorandum on invasive
species information.

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Data publishers should have the option of submitting
their biodiversity datasets for peer review, according
to a discussion paper commissioned by GBIF.

Aug 2011

The proposal is among a set of recommendations
made by Mark Costello and co-authors in the paper
Quality assurance and Intellectual Property Rights inadvancing biodiversity data publication.
The paper argues that concerns over data quality
impede the use of large biodiversity databases by
researchers, and subsequent benefits to society.
Peer review is proposed as the highest standard of ascale of quality assurance that could be attached todatasets published through online networks such as
GBIF.
Download discussion paper…

no 31 Nov 2012

Symposium showcases use of GBIFmediated data
The 2012 GBIF Science Symposium, held in
September, showcased the benefits of open-accessdata on the occurrence of species to scientificresearch and decision-making.
Eight researchers presented their work, beginningwith the 2012 winner of the GBIF Ebbe Nielsen
Prize, Nathan Swenson of Michigan State University,
who received his €30,000 prize shortly before thesymposium.

INFORMATICS
IPT v2.0.4 released
In October, the GBIF Secretariat released version 2.0.4
of the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT). It addresses
more than 100 issues, bugs and enhancements inthe software offering institutions a simple tool for
publishing biodiversity data.
Special thanks are due to volunteer translators at GBIF
nodes in Belgium, Chinese Taipei and Colombia, fortheir time and efforts to enable this update.
Read about what has changed on the GBIF developer
blog…

GBIF data portal now in Japanese andPolishThe GBIF data portal now has interfaces in Japaneseand Polish, thanks to the efforts of Sugawara Hideaki
and Piotyr Tykarski, from participant countries Japanand Poland.

Nathan Swenson, winner of the 2012 Ebbe Nielsen Prize.

A major focus of the presentations was the use of
GBIF-mediated data to predict the impacts of climatechange on species and ecosystems. Several speakers
also highlighted research based on data aboutbiodiversity from the Arctic, projected to be especiallyvulnerable to the changing climate.
The research outlined at the symposium included:

To change your language settings, please visit http://
data.gbif.org/settings.htm•

SCIENCE AND POLICY•

Record number of new papers
highlighted in GBits Science Supplement
More than sixty new peer-reviewed research articles
citing use of GBIF-mediated data are highlighted in
the latest issue of the GBits Science Supplement,
covering October and November 2012. The papers
include a major assessment of threats to SouthAmerica’s plant species diversity and priority locations
for protected areas; a prediction of shifts in areas
suitable for date palm cultivation; and discussion oftools for modelling the spread of human diseases
carried by insects.
Access the science supplement …

•
•
•
•
•
•

Using large datasets to help map the functions
evolved by plants and refine climate impact
modelsModelling the impacts of climate change on
future range shifts of more than 50,000 species
Developing a tool to help plan sensitive siting ofindustrial developments
Using data on prey and competitor species to help
predict future distribution of threatened Arctic
Foxes in Scandinavia
Assessing genetic diversity of northern plants
under a changing climate
Analysing the diversity of species dependent on
dead wood
Monitoring changes in the fruiting periods offungi due to climate change
Projecting the impact of climate and otherpressures on Arctic seabird populations

Presentations and audio interviews with each of thepresenters are available online.

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GBits
The science symposium was organized alongside the19th meeting of the GBIF governing board (GB19) inLillehammer, Norway. The 80 participants in GB19
represented 28 countries and five internationalorganizations. Appointments to GBIF standing
committees included the election of Stephen
Wilkinson (United Kingdom node manager) as
Chair of the Nodes Committee. Wilkinson heads
the Access to Information programme at the Joint
Nature Conservation Committee, and has beenheavily involved in the establishment of a National
Biodiversity Network (NBN) to mobilize biodiversity
data available across the United Kingdom. The newvice chairs of the Nodes Committee are Alex Asase,manager of the GBIF node in Ghana, and ManuelVargas, node manager in Costa Rica.

NEW DATA
Argentina
The Argentinian Ministry of Science, Technology andInnovation, a new publisher, has published 4,200
records of grassland plovers from periodic counts
between 2006 and 2010. (http://data.gbif.org/
datasets/provider/463)

Also in Argentina, the Centro Nacional Patagonico– CONICET published 365 records of amphibiansin the country (http://data.gbif.org/datasets/
resource/14429) and the faculty of science at the
National University of La Plata published 1700 records
of grasshoppers, locusts and weevils. (http://data.gbif.
org/datasets/provider/47)

Colombia
The Alexander von Humboldt Institute, which hosts
the GBIF node in Colombia, has published 144,000
records from its holdings of mammals, birds, fish,
amphibians, beetles and bugs. Data from thecollection of the Federico Medem herbarium in
Bogotá are also included in the published records.
(http://data.gbif.org/datasets/provider/262)

Germany
The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation(Bundesamt für Naturschutz) has published 3.9
million records of vascular plants from Floraweb, an
online database of vegetation in Germany. (http://
data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14519)

IrelandMore than 5,000 records collected by volunteers in Ireland’s 2012 Bioblitz are now accessible through the
GBIF data portal. The annual event invites members of the public to gather in selected locations to identify
the maximum number of living species over a 24 hour period.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre, which hosts
the GBIF node, announced that this year’s Bioblitz
winner was Crawfordsburn Country Park, where
volunteers recorded no fewer than 980 species.
Records from the whole event can be accessed at
http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14458.

Volunteers at the 2012 Bioblitz

The NBDC has also published around 16,000
records from the Atlas of Irish mammals survey,
which was launched in April 2010 and will run until
2015. Various conservation bodies and mammal
scientists in the country are working together todocument the distribution of the 64 species ofmammals that are known to occur in Ireland. This
includes 37 species of land mammals, including 10
bat species, and 27 marine mammals. (http://data.
gbif.org/datasets/resource/14459)

The Centre has been awarded a new five-year contract by the Heritage Council of Ireland, an independent
statutory advisory council to the government.“This is a positive signal to the value placed on the work of
the Centre and the importance attached to the mobilization of biodiversity data for the conservation of
biological diversity in Ireland,” said Liam Lysaght, GBIF node manager.
NBDC won the national ‘Best Business Case and Return on Investment’ award at the Irish Organization for
Geographic Information (IRLOGI) annual conference in October 2012.
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Read more...

4Aug 2011no 31 Nov 2012

United States

France/Guadeloupe

A laboratory run by the US Department of Agriculture(USDA) has published nearly 30,000 records used ina study tracking patterns of widespread decline inNorth American bumblebees. The USDA bee biology
and systematics lab is located at the Utah State
University, and researches solutions to problems inmanaging pollination for agriculture through studyof hundreds of species of bees. (http://data.gbif.org/
datasets/resource/14547)

The research institute INRA Antilles-Guyane, locatedin Guadeloupe, has published 430 records of threeof the most cultivated species of yam, as well as
wild varieties that grow in the rainforests of theWest Indies. The dataset represents more than 500
genotypes and is the result of surveys and collection
efforts conducted since the 1970s. (http://data.gbif.
org/datasets/resource/14488)

The University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates
has published its collection of North American
mammals, with 3700 records. (http://data.gbif.org/
datasets/resource/14435).

The Netherlands/Croatia
The Dutch Mammal Society, a new publisher, hasshared 2,300 records of mouse observations fromtrapping studies carried out in recent years. (http://
data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14478)
The field study group of the Dutch Mammal Society
has published 424 records of mammals surveyed
in the Biokovo Nature Park, Croatia, in July-August
2011. Biokovo is the second-highest mountain range
in Croatia and is located along the Dalmatian coast.
(http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14501)
Another new publisher, the Natural History Museum– Rotterdam, has made available 31,200 records fromits collection of the International Fossil Shell Museum.
Molluscs in this collection are fossils from 2 to 58
million years ago. (http://data.gbif.org/datasets/
resource/14503)

Belgium
The Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
has published 3,700 records from efforts to evaluate
fish reintroduction programmes for chub, dace,burbot and brown trout in nine water courses. (http://
data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14486). The institutehas also made available 16,500 records relating
to fish passages in Flanders. These passages werecreated to enable migration in streams and rivers
where structures such as mills and locks make fish
movement difficult. (http://data.gbif.org/datasets/
resource/14492)
The Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren,
Belgium, has published over 10,000 wood records
from its xylarium. The collection includes 56,000
specimens of 13,600 species from around the world,
and is the largest collection of its kind in Europe.
(http://data.gbif.org/datasets/resource/14521)

Japan
Five datasets from five municipal and prefectural
museums, covering 15,900 records were publishedin October 2012. (http://data.gbif.org/datasets/
resource/14525) 30,000 records from the bird
collections of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology
have also been published. (http://data.gbif.org/
datasets/resource/14533)

AROUND THE NETWORK
Norway hailed as prolific data publisher
An article published in the Science Nordic portal
has highlighted Norway’s impressive achievementin publishing biodiversity records through GBIF. The
number of published records more than doubled
in the past year, taking the total to 17 million. Thisputs Norway in third place in Europe, and fifth place
globally, in the data publishing ranking, despite its
small population. The only countries publishing moredata records than Norwegian institutions are theUnited States (108 million), Sweden (37.4 million),
the United Kingdom (37.1 million) and Australia (27.7
million).
Read the full article...

GBIF Belgium develops new regional
biodiversity data portal
The Belgian Biodiversity Platform, which acts as the
GBIF node in the country, has developed a new portalon the biodiversity of the Greater Region, which
includes parts of Germany, France, Belgium andLuxembourg.
The Greater Region is located between the Rhine,
Mosel, Sarre and Meuse rivers and covers a total areaof over 65,000 square kilometres.
The portal can be accessed at http://www.bio-gr.eu.

55GBitsTRAINING

UPCOMING EVENTSTaking biological collections to the nextlevel

8th International Conference on
Ecological Informatics

A workshop entitled Biological Collections 3.0
gathered 39 participants from 12 countries at theAlexander von Humboldt institute in Villa de Leyva,
Colombia from 8-11 October.

First meeting of the IPBES Plenary

The idea behind the training course was to takeadvanced collection managers and curators from theregion to the next level in collection management- 3.0 - in which collections are part of a global
information system on biodiversity science. The
workshop discussed current technologies andapproaches such as interoperability, images, semantic
web, identifiers, connection to environmental andmolecular databases and the role of GBIF.
The workshop is the first of four training eventsplanned under the Iberoamerican Infrastructure for
Biodiversity Information, I3B, a collaborative platformthat brings together several GBIF nodes from Latin
America and Spain. The training was organizedby Sistema de Información sobre Biodiversidad
de Colombia (SiB Colombia, coordinated by theAlexander von Humboldt institute) and the Spanish
GBIF node.
Participants at the workshop were from Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador,
United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay andSpain. The event was partially supported by the GBIF
Secretariat.

3-7 December 2012, Brasília, Brazil
More information…

21-26 January 2013, Bonn, Germany
More information…

Biodiversity Information Architecture
workshop

4-8 February 2013, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town, South
AfricaMore information…

BioSyst.EU 2013 Global systematics
18-22 February 2013, Vienna, Austria
More information…

GBIF-Africa regional meeting

14-19 April 2013, Pretoria, South Africa
More information…
A workshop on the JRS-funded project to develop a
biodiversity data mobilization strategy for southern
Africa and participating African GBIF countries willtake place alongside the meeting.

Material from the training sessions is available at
http://www.recibio.net/biological-collections-3-0/

VISION OF GBIF: A world in which biodiversity
information is freely and universally available forscience, society, and a sustainable future.

MISSION OF GBIF: To be the foremost global resourcefor biodiversity information, and engender smart
solutions for environmental and human well-being.

GBIF Secretariat
Universitetsparken 15
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark

Tel: +45 35 32 14 70
Fax: +45 35 32 14 80
E-mail: info@gbif.org

http://www.gbif.org/
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