Today, Pensoft celebrates one of its most distinguished editors and the world’s leading authority on thrips: Dr. Laurence Mound on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
Born in Willesden, London, on 22 April 1934, Dr. Mound is considered a world authority in the field. Having received his PhD from the University of London, he has been studying the biology and systematics of the order Thysanoptera for more than six decades. His academic recognitions include honorary membership at both the Royal and the Australian Entomological societies.
To date, Dr. Laurence Mound is the most prolific thrips researcher in history and has made monumental contributions to the field as the author of 500 publications, including landmark papers that have since shaped our understanding of the taxonomy and evolution of thrips. He has also published a number of books on thrip identification and control.
Having worked with admirable devotion and persistence to advance the knowledge of thrips on a global scale, Dr. Mound has described over 700 species and 100 genera. His studies have helped with species identifications in important pest groups, which in turn has had a pivotal role in the management of pests and the prevention of the establishment of new pest species.
One of the first-ever entomologists to join the ZooKeys editorial team, Mound has been the journal’s go-to editor for the order Thysanoptera for more than a decade. He oversaw the publication of 18 research papers at ZooKeys. He has also authored 11 articles in the journal, including especially valuable identification keys of different taxa from across the globe. He has also been one of the journal’s active reviewers.
“As a founder of ZooKeys, I’d like to specially congratulate Laurence on his 90th anniversary and personally thank him for his admirable involvement in our beloved journal. I cannot stress it enough how central dedicated and passionate scientists like him are to have a journal establish itself as a top-quality community-led resource of knowledge. As a fellow entomologist, I’d like to wish him health and good fortune for many years to come; and may the devotion and fascination you have invested in the field extend to each and every aspect of your life!”
says Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, founder/CEO of Pensoft and founding editor of ZooKeys.
“As Editor-in-Chief of ZooKeys, I wish you a ‘Happy 90th birthday!’ and thank you for your dedication and support of the journal since its very early days,”
“It was Laurence Mound who suggested my name to replace him as subject editor for Thysanoptera at ZooKeys five years ago. Since then, Laurence has actively continued to be a major contributor of both papers and reviews to the journal. It is an honour to share his friendship and to be able to continually receive his support, encouragement and guidance over the years. I would like to express my gratitude and wish an excellent birthday to this researcher who inspires all of us who study Thysanoptera and entomology in general,”
“We are truly honoured to have been working with Laurence all these years! His passion and dedication have left a permanent mark on the field of entomology. We toast to the future success and happiness of a dear friend, editor, and author. May his work continue to inspire many more generations of entomologists and conservationists,”
The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon was the largest accidental oil spill in history. With almost 100 million gallons (379 million liters) of oil combined with dispersants suggested to remain in the Gulf, it is one of the worst pollution events ever. More than a decade later, its long-term effects are still not fully understood.
A ship sails among spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP Deepwater Horizon oilspill disaster. Photo by Kris Krug shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
In a new study, researchers from Louisiana State University and Tulane University examined the endemic Gulf of Mexico fish species that may have been most impacted by the oil spill to see how their distribution has changed over the years. To get their data, they studied museum specimens from natural history collections, looked at relevant literature, and combed biodiversity databases.
Lead author Prosanta Chakrabarty in the fish collections of the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science where many specimens from the Gulf of Mexico are housed. Photo credit: Eddy Perez, LSU
With 1541 fish species known from the region, and 78 endemic fish species, the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most biologically rich and resilient marine environments in the world, but how much of this diversity is still left intact?
The study found that 29 out of the Gulf’s 78 endemic fish species haven’t been reported in museum collections since 2010. The Yucatan killifish, for example, which is considered endangered, was last reported pre-spill, in 2005, off the Yucatán Peninsula.
Six of the non-reported species are considered of greatest concern, because their areas of distribution largely overlap with the affected area – although the authors note that their absence in the Gulf in recent years cannot automatically be attributed to the oil spill.
Jars of voucher specimens of fishes at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. Photo credit: Eddy Perez, LSU
“Understanding the impacts of catastrophic environmental events such as the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill does not end when the wellhead is capped or when the last drops of oil cease to flow. The disaster only begins to end when the data no longer show impacts of the event. We are far from the beginning of the end for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Lingering chemicals, lost generations of wildlife and a continued ecosystem imbalance may all be factors that prevent an environment from rebounding from such cataclysmic events,” the authors note in their research article.
However, they also point out that nature’s ability to recover should not be overlooked.
“The Gulf of Mexico continues to face many challenges, from the Dead Zone, to climate change, loss of coast habitats and continued oil spills. Efforts like this report aim to bring attention to vulnerable species that continue to be impacted by human activities and to the unique endemic fauna of the region,” the researchers write in conclusion.
Research article:
Chakrabarty P, Sheehy AJ, Clute X, Cruz SB, Ballengée B (2024) Ten years later: An update on the status of collections of endemic Gulf of Mexico fishes put at risk by the 2010 Oil Spill. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e113399. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e113399
Occurrences of myxomycetes in Ukraine from the present study.
Myxomycetes, or slime molds, despite their unassuming name, are fascinating organisms that play a crucial role in forest ecosystems. They live as single-cell amoebae in soil or all sorts of plant debris, where they feed on microscopic bacteria, algae, and fungi. However, when it is time to reproduce and disseminate, these tiny amoebae fuse with each other and form slimy, mobile structures – plasmodia. Plasmodia slowly but actively crawl on the substrate, and eventually transform into fungi-like fruiting bodies filled with spores. Both plasmodia and fruiting bodies are visible with the naked eye and can be easily found e.g. on decaying wood or on the forest floor.
Plasmodium (left) and fruiting bodies (right) of the same species of a slime mold, with a difference of one day.
Myxomycetes are unusual in their life cycle and very eye-catching – if only one knows where to look for them. No wonder that they have attracted the attention of naturalists for centuries. On the territory of Ukraine, observations of myxomycetes first appeared in the first half of 19th century and have been occurring sporadically in the mycological literature ever since.
‘Wasp nest’ slime mold – a common and widespread species of myxomycetes in Ukraine.
However, much valuable information about the myxomycetes of Ukraine before our study was in a “grey zone”. This includes undigitized historical books and articles published in languages such as Polish, French, or German. Furthermore, there is a significant body of proceedings of local conferences, articles in local journals, and reports produced by the employees of protected areas. Yet, many of these publications existed only in print and were written in the Cyrillic alphabet, so they remained difficult to discover, to access, or to work with.
An example of an “invisible” literature source, a page from Maria Zelle “Materials for the myxomycete flora of Ukraine”, 1925.
Within this study, published in Biodiversity Data Journal, we aimed to summarize all published research on myxomycetes of Ukraine, which spans over 150 years, and make the data, as well as the literature behind the data, open and easy to use. For this, we collected and mined 91 publications on this topic, spanning the years 1842 to 2023. As the result, we extracted over 5000 occurrences of myxomycetes that belong to 331 species. The produced datasets we published on GBIF, and the major part of the literature sources on the platform Zenodo.org in open access.
Datasets produced by this study available on GBIF.
Leaders of the BioData project with future Ukrainian mentors.
With this initiative, we aimed to open to the wider audience and digitally preserve some part of the biodiversity data heritage of Ukraine that is currently under threat of destruction.
This study was substantially driven by the BioDATA project, which helped a lot in developing biodiversity data management skills in our team.
Research article:
Yatsiuk I, Leshchenko Y, Viunnyk V, Leontyev DV (2024) The comprehensive checklist of myxomycetes of Ukraine, based on extended occurrence and reference datasets. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e120891. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e120891
Researchers who captured footage of dog attacks on endangered mountain tapirs in Colombia are calling for action to protect threatened wildlife.
Using camera traps, a team from WILD Campo Silvestre, the Tiger Cats Conservation Initiative, and the Fundación Caipora captured images of two attacks in the Campoalegre Soil Conservation District, Santa Rosa de Cabal in a period of two months.
Photographic evidence of domestic dogs chasing mountain tapirs in a private protected area of the Central Andes of Colombia. Credit: Cepeda-Duque et al.
The cameras caught domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) chasing and attacking mountain tapirs (Tapirus pinchaque) in a protected area of the Central Andes. These images were subsequently published in a research paper published by the open-access journal, Neotropical Biology and Conservation.
The study offers insights into the impact of domestic dogs on wildlife, particularly on species of conservation concern such as the mountain tapir. The authors highlight the urgent need for population management and control of domestic dogs inside and around protected areas.
Area surveyed by camera traps that detected the two events of dogs mountain tapirs in the private natural reserve. Credit: Cepeda-Duque et al.
Conservationists recently implemented measures such as neutering and vaccination programs for stray and owned dogs in the vicinity of natural reserves to protect the threatened clouded tiger cat (Leopardus pardinoides) in the region. The research team call for these measures to be extended to WILD Campo Alegre and surrounding lands.
Campoalegre Soil Conservation District, Santa Rosa de Cabal. Credit: Camilo Botero.
“Domestic dog incursion into protected areas is a global threat to wildlife that is difficult to mitigate because of the inherent social dilemma of controlling dog populations,” says Juan Camilo Cepeda-Duque, lead author of the study.
“Dogs can contribute to the extinction of vertebrate species, can imbalance the trophic dynamics amongst predator guilds and even have the potential to collapse entire ecological communities,” he continues.
The mountain tapir is an emblematic herbivore of the Andean cloud forest, globally classified as ‘Endangered’ according to the IUCN Red List due to habitat loss and poaching. The presence and aggressive behaviour of domestic dogs not only threaten the physical wellbeing of these tapirs but also their reproductive performance, foraging efficiency, and overall population health due to increased stress, potential for disease transmission, and alterations in habitat use.
The research team highlight that their observations are not isolated cases, as locals previously reported the same dogs chasing and attacking mountain tapirs and cattle. The conservationists are also concerned that they detected no juvenile mountain tapirs in the survey.
Study authors Juan Camilo Cepeda Duque (left) and Eduven Arango Correa (right) on site. Credit: Camilo Botero.
The NGO WILD Nature Foundation has established a new protected area in the northern extreme of the Campoalegre Soil Conservation District, with the target of protecting the habitat of endangered mountain tapirs and the last remnant populations of the fuerte’s parrot (Hapalopsittaca fuertesi) in the region. Currently, the reserve is carrying out an unprecedented restoration program, planting thousands of trees to recover the land once cleared for the establishment of cattle ranching.
Original source
Cepeda-Duque JC, Arango-Correa E, Frimodt-Møller C, Lizcano DJ (2024) Howling shadows: First report of domestic dog attacks on globally threatened mountain tapirs in high Andean cloud forests of Colombia. Neotropical Biology and Conservation 19: 25-33. https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.19.e117437
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Over the last few years, professor Halil Ibrahimi from Kosovo and his team have described several new species of aquatic insects revered as bioindicators of freshwater ecosystems. However, the celebration of these discoveries is tempered by alarming concerns: the newfound species are often already considered endangered, as per the criteria set forth by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as soon as they are described. This classification underscores the urgent need for conservation efforts to safeguard their existence.
The research team just discovered a new species, named Potamophylax kosovaensis, in the spring area of the Llap River, nestled within the Ibër River Basin. The region, known for its ecological significance, serves as a critical habitat for numerous aquatic organisms like newly discovered insect species.
Potamophylax kosovaensis.
Unfortunately, these freshwater insects are facing unprecedented threats in Kosovo and the broader Balkans region. Anthropogenic pressures, such as water pollution, littering, and the construction of hydropower plants, pose imminent risks to their survival. The degradation of their habitats not only jeopardizes their existence, but also undermines the health and integrity of entire freshwater ecosystems.
Spring area of the Llap river, from where the new species, Potamophylax kosovaensis was found.
Professor Ibrahimi emphasizes on the importance of urgent action to mitigate these threats and conserve this delicate balance of freshwater biodiversity. “The discovery of Potamophylax kosovaensis serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of our freshwater ecosystems,” he states. “We must prioritize efforts to protect these habitats and the invaluable species they harbor.”
Anthropogenic pressures in freshwater ecosystems in Kosovo endangering rich aquatic biodiversity.
Ibrahimi H, Bilalli A, Geci D, Grapci Kotori L (2024) Potamophylax kosovaensis sp. nov. (Trichoptera, Limnephilidae), a new species of the Potamophylax winneguthi species cluster from the Ibër River Basin in Kosovo. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e121454. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e121454
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Its name pays homage to the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, the fearsome antagonist of the Harry Potter series, drawing parallels with the ant’s ghostly appearance.
In the sun-scorched Pilbara region of north-western Australia, scientists have unearthed a mysterious creature from the shadows – a new ant species of the elusive genus Leptanilla.
The new species, Leptanilla voldemort – L. voldemort for short – is a pale ant with a slender build, spindly legs, and long, sharp mandibles. The species name pays homage to the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, the fearsome antagonist of the Harry Potter series, drawing parallels with the ant’s ghostly and slender appearance, and the dark underground environment, from which it has emerged.
Leptanilla voldemort was discovered during an ecological survey to document animals living belowground in the arid Pilbara region of north-western Australia. Only two specimens of the bizarre new ant species were found. Both were collected in a net that was lowered down a 25-metre drill hole and skilfully retrieved while scraping against the hole’s inner surface – an innovative technique for collecting underground organisms known as ‘subterranean scraping’.
A general landscape of the Pilbara region.
Compared to other Leptanilla antspecies, L. voldemort has an extremely slender body as well as long, spindly antennae and legs. Together with its collection from a 25-metre-deep drill hole, this unusual morphologyhas left experts speculating as to whether it truly dwells in soil like other Leptanilla species, or exploits a different subterranean refuge, such as the air-filled voids and cracks that form within layers of rock deeper underground.
Leptanilla voldemort.
The long, sharp jaws of L. voldemort, however, leave little to the imagination.
“Leptanilla voldemort is almost surely a predator, a fearsome hunter in the dark. This is backed up by what we know from the few observations of specialised hunting behaviours in other Leptanilla antspecies, where the tiny workers use their sharp jaws and powerful stings to immobilise soil-dwelling centipedes much larger than them, before carrying their larvae over to feed on the carcass” said Dr Wong, lead author of the study.
A full-face view of Leptanilla voldemort, showing its sharp mandibles.
The exact prey of L. voldemort, however, is not known, though a variety of other subterranean invertebrates, including centipedes, beetles and flies, were collected from the same locality.
There are over 14,000 species of ants worldwide, but only about 60 belong to the enigmatic genus Leptanilla. Unlike most ants, all species of Leptanilla are hypogaeic – their small colonies, usually comprising a queen and only a hundred or so workers, nest and forage exclusively underground. To adapt to life in darkness, Leptanilla workers are blind and colourless. The lilliputian members of the ant world, these ants measure just 1 to 2 millimetres – not much larger than a grain of sand – allowing them to move effortlessly through the soil. Due to their miniscule size, pale colouration, and unique underground dwellings, finding Leptanilla species is a challenge even for expert ant scientists, and much of their biology remains shrouded in mystery.
While Australia boasts some of the highest levels of ant diversity in the world – with estimates ranging from 1,300 to over 5,000 species – L. voldemort is only the second Leptanilla species discovered from the continent. The first, Leptanilla swani, was described nearly a century ago – from a small colony found under a rock in 1931 – and has almost never been seen since.
With its formation beginning approximately 3.6 billion years ago, the Pilbara is one of the oldest land surfaces on Earth. Despite the scorching summers and meagre rainfall, the region harbours globally important radiations of underground invertebrates. Adding to the unique biodiversity of this ancient landscape, the discovery of the enigmatic ant L. voldemort is a testament to the wizardry of nature and the mysteries of life in the depths of darkness.
Research article:
Wong MKL, McRae JM (2024) Leptanilla voldemort sp. nov., a gracile new species of the hypogaeic ant genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Pilbara, with a key to Australian Leptanilla. ZooKeys 1197: 171-182. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1197.114072
Emmelichthys papillatus. Photograph by the Kagoshima University Museum
The papillated redbait is a member of the family Emmelichthyidae. There are only 18 known species in this family, which are commonly called redbaits, rovers, or rubyfishes. These deepwater species can be found in warm, tropical waters and are usually bright shades of red, orange, and pink.
How did Bemis and her team make this remarkable discovery? To find out, we’ll have to first travel to a fish market in the Philippines.
A molecular mystery
As part of an interagency campaign to create a reference library of fish DNA “barcodes,” Bemis and her colleagues regularly travel abroad to collect fish specimens. Some come from seafood markets overseas where they are being sold for food. In the field, these new specimens are assigned a preliminary species identification. Then, they’re transported to the Smithsonian Institution and National Systematics Laboratory for genetic sequencing, data collection, and a secondary species confirmation.
Dr. Katherine Bemis holds the holotype–the specimen upon which a new species’ description is based–of the papillated redbait. Credit: Haley Randall/NOAA Fisheries
Since getting involved with this project in 2021, Bemis and teammate Dr. Matthew Girard of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have analyzed thousands of samples. None have made a bigger splash, though, than two small pink fish collected from a Philippine fish market on the island of Cebu.
While collecting data from these specimens, Girard made an exciting observation. Their genetic sequences did not match their initial species identification as golden redbaits—or any other species in the genetic library, for that matter. So which species did Girard and Bemis have on their hands?
Dr. Matthew Girard examines the holotype of the papillated redbait under a microscope. Credit: Dr. Katherine Bemis. Source NOAA Fisheries
In search of answers, Bemis and Girard examined other aspects of the specimens’ biology, including their anatomy. They discovered that these fish differed from the golden redbait in several ways, including:
A different number of gill rakers, structures inside the mouth that help fish to feed
A different number of pectoral fin rays
Two fleshy structures called papillae on the pectoral girdle
These differences, combined with the genetic data, provided evidence that the two specimens were not golden redbaits, but a previously undiscovered species. With only two confirmed specimens, Bemis and Girard wondered if other individuals could be identified in global natural history collections.
Underneath the gill cover, you can observe the two characteristic papillae (singular: papilla) of the papillated redbait labeled with arrows (left). The closely-related golden redbait lacks papillae in the same area (right). Photos courtesy of Dr. Matthew Girard. Source NOAA Fisheries
After some detective work, Bemis and Girard spotted a third specimen they hypothesized might also be the undescribed species. A fish with similar color also identified as a golden redbait had been collected from a fish market in the Philippines by the Kagoshima University Museum in Japan. Bemis and Girard studied the specimen and confirmed their hypothesis with genetic and anatomical data. This specimen became the third record of papillated redbait and, ultimately, the holotype for the species—the specimen upon which a new species description is based.
More to discover
Even after describing new species, there’s always more to learn. Bemis and Girard are energized that there is still much to discover about the papillated redbait and the redbait family, which is relatively poorly known. Any opportunity to add to this small body of knowledge and study redbait species in greater detail is valuable. “I’ve had researchers that work on fish taxonomy say to me, ‘I didn’t even know this family existed.’ That’s how little we know about this group,” Girard emphasizes.
Bemis also notes that because data on the papillated redbait comes from only three specimens purchased in fish markets, she still has lots of questions. For example, Bemis says that they don’t yet know if the new species occurs outside Philippine waters, or the exact habitat in which they occur. “We also don’t know anything about their reproduction or what they eat—really basic aspects of their biology remain to be studied. Now that we recognize that it is different, we only have more to study as new specimens of papillated redbait are collected,” Bemis says.
“It is always a happy and productive moment working with U.S. scientists,” says Dr. Mudjekeewis “Mudjie” Santos of the Philippine National Fisheries Research and Development Institute. Santos was instrumental in the collection of specimens, providing fisheries data on the papillated redbait, and coining a name for the new species in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines. Here, he examines fish in a Philippine market. Photo courtesy of Dr. Mudjekeewis Santos. Source NOAA Fisheries
One thing is for certain, though. There are more species just waiting to be discovered, and they might be right under our noses. “I think the craziest thing is that the papillated redbait is a new species that came from a market,” Girard says. “The fact that there are undescribed species being sold without us even realizing it underscores how much we still have to learn about marine biodiversity.”
Research article:
Girard MG, Santos MD, Bemis KE (2024) New species of redbait from the Philippines (Teleostei, Emmelichthyidae, Emmelichthys). ZooKeys 1196: 95-109. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1196.111161
This story was originally published by NOAAFisheries. It is republished here with their permission.
Leiden – also known as the ‘City of Keys’ and the ‘City of Discoveries’ – was aptly chosen to host the third Empowering Biodiversity Research (EBR III) conference. The two-day conference – this time focusing on the utilisation of biodiversity data as a vehicle for biodiversity research to reach to Policy – was held in a no less fitting locality: the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.
On 25th and 26th March 2024, the delegates got the chance to learn more about the latest discoveries, trends and innovations from scientists, as well as various stakeholders, including representatives of policy-making bodies, research institutions and infrastructures. The conference also ran a poster session and a Biodiversity Informatics market, where scientists, research teams, project consortia, and providers of biodiversity research-related services and tools could showcase their work and meet like-minded professionals.
BiCIKL stops at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center
The main outcome of the BiCIKL project: the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub, a one-stop knowledge portal to interlinked and machine-readable FAIR data.
The famous for its bicycle friendliness country also made a suitable stop for BiCIKL (an acronym for the Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library): a project funded under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme that aimed at triggering a culture change in the way users access, (re)use, publish and share biodiversity data. To do this, the BiCIKL consortium set off on a 3-year journey to build on the existing biodiversity data infrastructures, workflows, standards and the linkages between them.
Many of the people who have been involved in the project over the last three years could be seen all around the beautiful venue. Above all, Naturalis is itself one of the partnering institutions at BiCIKL. Then, on Tuesday, on behalf of the BiCIKL consortium and the project’s coordinator: the scientific publisher and technology innovator: Pensoft, Iva Boyadzhieva presented the work done within the project one month ahead of its official conclusion at the end of April.
As she talked about the way the BiCIKL consortium took to traverse obstacles to wider use and adoption of FAIR and linked biodiversity data, she focused on BiCIKL’s main outcome: the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub (BKH).
Key results from the BiCIKL project three years into its existence presented by Pensoft’s Iva Boyadzhieva at the EBR III conference.
Intended to act as a knowledge broker for users who wish to navigate and access sources of open and FAIR biodiversity data, guidelines, tools and services, in practicality, the BKH is a one-stop portal for understanding the complex but increasingly interconnected landscape of biodiversity research infrastructures in Europe and beyond. It collates information, guidelines, recommendations and best practices in usage of FAIR and linked biodiversity data, as well as a continuously expanded catalogue of compliant relevant services and tools.
At the core of the BKH is the FAIR Data Place (FDP), where users can familiarise themselves with each of the participating biodiversity infrastructures and network organisations, and also learn about the specific services they provide. There, anyone can explore various biodiversity data tools and services by browsing by their main data type, e.g. specimens, sequences, taxon names, literature.
While the project might be coming to an end, she pointed out, the BKH is here to stay as a navigation system in a universe of interconnected biodiversity research infrastructures.
To do this, not only will the partners continue to maintain it, but it will also remain open to any research infrastructure that wishes to feature its own tools and services compliant with the linked and FAIR data requirements set by the BiCIKL consortium.
Indisputably, the ‘hot’ topics at the EBR III were the novel technologies for remote and non-invasive, yet efficient biomonitoring; the utilisation of data and other input sourced by citizen scientists; as well as leveraging different types and sources of biodiversity data, in order to better inform decision-makers, but also future-proof the scientific knowledge we have collected and generated to date.
Project’s coordinator Dr Quentin Groom presents the B-Cubed’s approach towards standardised access to biodiversity data for the use of policy-making at the EBR III conference.
Amongst the other Horizon Europe projects presented at the EBR III conference was B-Cubed (Biodiversity Building Blocks for policy). On Monday, the project’s coordinator Dr Quentin Groom (Meise Botanic Garden) familiarised the conference participants with the project, which aims to standardise access to biodiversity data, in order to empower policymakers to proactively address the impacts of biodiversity change.
You can find more about B-Cubed and Pensoft’s role in it in this blog post.
Dr France Gerard (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) talks about the challenges in using raw data – including those provided by drones – to derive habitat condition metrics.
MAMBO: another Horizon Europe project where Pensoft has been contributing with expertise in science communication, dissemination and exploitation, was also an active participant at the event. An acronym for Modern Approaches to the Monitoring of BiOdiversity, MAMBO had its own session on Tuesday morning, where Dr Vincent Kalkman (Naturalis Biodiversity Center), Dr France Gerard (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) and Prof. Toke Høye (Aarhus University) each took to the stage to demonstrate how modern technology developed within the project is to improve biodiversity and habitat monitoring. Learn more about MAMBO and Pensoft’s involvement in this blog post.
MAMBO’s project coordinator Prof. Toke T. Høye talked about smarter technologies for biodiversity monitoring, including camera traps able to count insects at a particular site.
On the event’s website you can access the MAMBO’s slides presentations by Kalkman, GerardandHøye, as presented at the EBR III conference.
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The EBR III conference also saw a presentation – albeit remote – from Prof. Dr. Florian Leese (Dean at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, and Editor-in-Chief at the Metabarcoding and Metagenomics journal), where he talked about the promise, but also the challenges for DNA-based methods to empower biodiversity monitoring.
Amongst the key tasks here, he pointed out, are the alignment of DNA-based methods with the Global Biodiversity Framework; central push and funding for standards and guidance; publication of data in portals that adhere to the best data practices and rules; and the mobilisation of existing resources such as the meteorological ones.
He also made a reference to the Forum Paper “Introducing guidelines for publishing DNA-derived occurrence data through biodiversity data platforms” by R. Henrik Nilsson et al., where the international team provided a brief rationale and an overview of guidelines targeting the principles and approaches of exposing DNA-derived occurrence data in the context of broader biodiversity data. In the study, published in the Metabarcoding and Metagenomics journal in 2022, they also introduced a living version of these guidelines, which continues to encourage feedback and interaction as new techniques and best practices emerge.
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You can find the programme on the conference website and see highlights on the conference hashtag: #EBR2024.
A study from the Technical University Berlin suggests ‘sufficiency’ should be a more prominent strategy for protecting biodiversity.
Published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation, the paper analyses the intersection between biodiversity conservation and sufficiency strategies aimed at reducing consumption and resource use.
Study author Marianne Hachtmann notes that despite the established connection between excessive resource use by humans and biodiversity loss, there is limited explicit focus on how sufficiency strategies can support biodiversity preservation.
Reviewing literature from 2017 to 2021 and publications by nature conservation associations, the research identifies a notable gap in discussions linking sufficiency directly with biodiversity outcomes. Possible reasons for this may be the term’s political implications, lack of descriptiveness, and the use of other terms.
Research methodology
Furthermore, the lack of connection between sufficiency and biodiversity could be because they belong to different ‘scientific spheres’. Linking the two terms thus requires a reflective, interdisciplinary perspective.
The study proposes a detailed sufficiency typology to foster a systematic approach towards integrating the term in biodiversity conservation efforts.
“The sufficiency typology developed here allows for a systematic integration of sufficiency into biodiversity conservation and thus a joint consideration of social and nature conservation concerns.”
Marianne Hachtmann, Technical University Berlin
Policymakers, conservationists, and researchers are urged to prioritise sufficiency for the broader strategy for biodiversity conservation and sustainable living. The paper calls for further investigation into how sufficiency strategies can be crucial in conserving biodiversity and promoting sustainability.
Original source:
Hachtmann M (2024) Linking sufficiency and the protection of biodiversity: An issue of political implications, framing, descriptiveness and interdisciplinarity? Nature Conservation 55: 83-102. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.55.118243
Invasive species spread through human activities are one of the main causes of the ongoing biodiversity crisis.
Even on South Georgia, a remote island located in the very south of the Atlantic Ocean, exotic species are present. Many of which were inadvertently introduced by whalers and sealers in the 19th and early 20th century.
The invasive carabid ground beetle, Merizodus soledadinus, is present on sites that have been recently exposed by melting glaciers.
In a new study published in the open-access journal Neobiota and funded by Darwin Plus, researchers explored how living organisms colonise new ground provided by melting glaciers.
Like other cold regions of the world, South Georgia is losing its glaciers because of climate change, leaving behind large areas of newly uncovered bare ground.
Invasive annual meadow grass colonising ground only a few years after the glacier disappeared.
Researchers surveyed the foreland biodiversity of six glaciers, creating an inventory of the flora and fauna that colonise forelands at different stages of glacial retreat.
A survey site near a former whaling station (Grytviken).
They found that, just a few years after bare ground is exposed by a glacier melting, pioneer plants arrive, progressively covering more ground with time, followed by an increasing number of species.
Rocky terrain by Glacier Col.
Native and exotic plants, as well as invertebrates, take advantage of this opportunity. Surprisingly, two temperate plant species from the Northern Hemisphere, annual meadow grass and mouse-ear chickweed, colonise sites faster than any other species.
The team suggests their results indicate invasive species will likely spread on South Georgia as fast as glaciers are retreating. Whether this has or will have negative consequences on local species needs to be investigated to help protect this unique ecosystem.
Original Source
Tichit P, Brickle P, Newton RJ, Convey P, Dawson W (2024) Introduced species infiltrate recent stages of succession after glacial retreat on sub-Antarctic South Georgia. NeoBiota 92: 85-110. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.92.117226
