Summary Report
APBON 3rd Web Seminar
1. Date: 22nd October, 2020
Time: 15:00-17:00 in Japanese Standard Time (UTC 06:00-08:00am)(13:00-15:00 in Thailand, Indonesia,14:00-16:00 in Philippines, China,7:00-9:00 in Germany)
2. Location, Participants
・Webex Meeting Room・25 participants (21 participants and 4 from secretariat) from 9Nationalities
・MC: Dr. Alice Hughes(Center for Integrative conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden,
Chinese Academy of Sciences)
3. Program:Opening and Announcement:
Secretariat of APBON (Mr. Saito: Biodiversity Center of Japan)
・welcomed all of the participants to join this 3rd APBON web seminar
・The agenda and rules of meeting were proposed
・Introduced today’s MC
Presentation1: Dr. Po Teen LIM (University of Malaya)“The use of molecular approaches in marine ecosystem health assessment andresearch in Malaysia”
Q&A Session
Q: About Part 1 of your talk, I am very impressed by the extensive fieldwork ofphytoplankton covering all the coastal and offshore area in Malaysia. Question iswhether if you compare this monitoring data with ocean color satellite sensors. Are there
any ongoing studies on this subject?
A: We usually use the remote sensing data, especially trying to detect the movement ofbloom along the Malacca strait. We found it was very challenging and difficult to obtainsatellite data for ground truthing purpose. This is one of the limitation. If you look at thedata base, some of the current data along the Malacca strait are not monitoredcontinuously. We hope to improve that we can actually do this continuous monitoringwith the aid of satellite remote sensing data.
Q: Do you have any studies on strontium-to-calcium Sr/Ca ratios for climate change
impact on coral reef, are there other techniques on coral reef bleaching?
A: I don’t have enough experience to answer the particular coral reel bleaching, and also
the Sr/Ca ratios, it is not within the scope of my study, but I am trying to look at thechange of composition of zooxanthellae and to relate reef with marine conditions by using
the molecular approaches.
Q: What is the relationship between plankton diversity, water quality and bloom of toxic
HAB plankton? In the case of Japan, better water quality looks increasing one of thespecies consisting HAB recently.
A: Generally the harmful toxic species may not need to have very high density to cause
problem. For example, some species, Alexandrium, that causes the problem in Hiroshima
Seto Island Sea is one of the examples, the density of 2-3thousand per litter is enough tocause shellfish to be toxic. So I think it depends on the risk group. For high biomass
bloom former, the density needs to be very high in order to cause harmful effect.
Q: It is impressive that phytoplankton diversity is very low around Pulau Pinang. Is thislow diversity caused by any human impact?
A: For the area around Pinang Island, I believe that the eutrophication is getting very
severe and a lot of nutrients are being discharged in the coastal water in Pinang. With
many marine activities also affecting, this is the reason for phytoplankton diversity andthe formation of high biomass monospecific bloom.

Presentaton2: Dr. Laetitia Navarro（GEO BON）
“The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network:
Update on activities and post-2020 vision”
Q&A Session
Q: In case of marine ecosystems, we are trying to increase more biological variables toEOVs (Essential Ocean Variables), and I always wonder how we relate EBVs and EOVs.
Do you have any ideas?
A: A couple of years ago in a publication lead by the Marine BON, we did the efforts onmapping the EVBs and EOVs frameworks. I think this is source or information what you
are looking for: Muller-Karger FE, et al. (2018) Advancing Marine BiologicalObservations and Data Requirements of the Complementary Essential Ocean Variables(EOVs) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) Frameworks. Front. Mar. Sci. 5:211.
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00211
Q: I am interested in developing the EuropaBON. Do the institutions in this regional
BON have any connections with their national GEO office?
A: When we designed the project we mostly focused on the regional level so we didn’t yet
look so much to the national level (with some exceptions). However, I see how thisconnection could quite easily be done with national GEO in Germany. Beyond Germany,
this is definitely important and it will be a key point to connect with GEO focal points ineach of EU countries. I will bring it to the EuropaBON coordinating team for furtherthoughts.
Q: What is the most important contribution to the promotion of GEO BON activities inyour capacity as the Executive Secretary the GEO BON?
A: I think what’s the key is to develop the network with new working groups, BONs andtask forces. Because, when I started my positon 4 years ago, we had just adopted the newstructure and we were going to think about the new implementation plan. But at thattime, all the EBV classes were not presented by working groups for instance. And weneeded groups to work on cross-cutting issues such as data management, remote sensing
etc... And now, we have each EBVs classes represented by working group, we have morethematic BONs and more regional BONs, and several cross-cutting task forces. I thinkdevelopment of the network is a big personal achievement. And to some extent the EBV2020 initiative is another achievement because we didn’t know what to expect when westarted, and now we have almost 100 EBV and EBV-derived data sets suggested by thegroups’ experts. This is very impressive and shows that a lot of things happened andwere developed in those past few years.
Q: Adding on that, what do you think were the greatest challenges in past few years tomoving forward, and what do you think a priority for next 5 years to GEO BON? It is notjust in terms of moving but also in terms of insuring the important biodiversity
A: I think one of our biggest challenges is the financial supports and how this could limit
the networking because it is a volunteer-based network. Despite so many people want toengage, we didn’t always have financial abilities to organize the workshop whichprovides the spaces and all the experts to meet. And in the case of APBON, which is
supported by the Ministry of Japan, is really a fantastic example. The future secretariat
in Montreal plans to establish a solid fundraising strategy and I hope this will help tosupport more members in network and also in achieving their ambitions and goals inGEO BON.
Q: As we discussed about the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which took place
on February this year, there were some discussion on database target on global
biodiversity framework. Do you know any of those discussions being continued or takenplace in the BON type framework such as the standardized national biodiversity action?
A: It has some progress that we have not entirely reached yet. So this discussion now isaround target 18, we made the joint into invention in February together with GBIF at
the 2nd CBD Open Ended Working Group meeting. The CBD opened documents on theframework for comments this summer, and the need for national biodiversity monitoringis somehow part of the monitoring component of this target 18, but it is not reaching thephrasing of the target itself. And it’s not yet clear to me how important this monitoring
components are going to be in the framework. So we are keeping our eyes on it. I think
we made some progresses on this target and we are almost there, but there’re still somework to be done. Any supports from GEO BON members are more than welcome.
Q: May I ask what your role will be in the new GEOBON Secretariat?
A: I went back to research officially starting on the 1st October. Now I’m a researcher atiDiv for at least one year, but I am still allocating time every week to GEO BON activities
to help the future secretariat. In the future, I don’t expect to have a role to be related tosecretariat itself, however I am still co-leading the GEO BON Policy Task Force, this is
another personal achievement as I talked about earlier, which is very fascinating andinteresting. So I would love to continue doing that, and I still hope that I could engage
with the future secretariat on topics related to conservation policies.

General Discussion: (Exchange of info)
・Announcement about AOGEO activities (Dr. Muraoka)
First announcement is, regarding the 3rd AOGEO workshop(http://aogeo2020.csp.escience.cn/dct/page/1) to be held in China next week, it isactually this week they are doing the training workshop. If anyone who wants toparticipate in this online virtual workshop next week, please visit this website to findthe agenda. However, even at this moment, the agenda is not fixed yet.
Second, Japan GEO is going to plan next AOGEO symposium sometime in the nextFebruary 2021. And the format of this AOGEO symposium is not decided, maybe we’llorganize it in online format. Once I get information about the AOGEO Symposium, I’ll
distribute it to all APBON colleagues.
・There will be APBON online meeting, in additional to the webinar. Any ideas andcomments are all welcomed.
- It sounds fantastic. Last year, we were working on the TG plan, it would be good tothink about working group that works on that, so that we can move things forward.
- In the regular webinar, the presentations will be the main parts, on the other way inthe APBON online meeting, we want to focus more on the strategic plan anddiscussions rather than the presentations. This is how we are thinking about at thismoment.
- Some of the APBON members will join the committee meeting on 11/4 and discuss
about the idea of APBON workshop. This is fully agreed by one of the co-chairs.
- The schedule of 4th APBON web seminar will be considered on sometimes during
November.
- As Dr. Alice mentioned, action plan should be developed beyond our strategy plan. It
is expected we can get the review report of manual script very soon, and hope todiscuss more about our action plan based on the working group or discuss about how
we can develop the more national BONs in our vison.
- For the connection of the AOGEO, there is another important part of APBON.
Because APBON is one of the longest and intensive group. We might deliver ourinsight and idea to try work together with other organization.
Closing and Announcements: Secretariat to APBON- The date of 4th and 5th APBON Web Seminar will be discussed on the extended steeringcommittee on 4th November.
- And for the presenters and MC of the 4th seminar, anybody is welcomed.
- The agenda and schedule will be informed by Secretariats as soon as it fixed.