Towards the end of July 2024, members of the Pensoft team travelled to Madrid for the XX International Botanical Congress, where an estimated 3,000 botanists gathered for the biggest event of the year.
Held once every six years, the congress has enlarged its scope over more than a century to become an integrated forum for knowledge on the plant and mycological world.
Proceedings kicked off with a fantastic lecture from PhytoKeys Editor-in-Chief Sandy Knapp titled, âWhy botany? Why now?â The following day, Thorsten Lumbsch, Editor-in-Chief of MycoKeys, gave a keynote lecture titled, âUnravelling diversity and evolution of lichens in the genomic era.â
In fact, many authors, editors and readers of Pensoft’s journals were in attendance. And several gave presentations, including a plenary talk by renowned PhytoKeys editor, Pamela S. Soltis, on the changing face of herbarium collections.
Denitsa Peneva greeting researchers at the Pensoft stand.Lyubomir Penev giving a presentation to PhytoKeys editor.
The Pensoft team welcomed attendees with a bespoke stand, complete with print copies, illustrations and various promotional materials depicting beautiful species featured in PhytoKeys.
Lyubomir Penev, founder of Pensoft and founding editor of PhytoKeys, hosted a gathering of PhytoKeys editors at the stand, where he presented the story, latest results and highlights of the journal.
Researchers who found their publications on display at the Pensoft stand.
The congress included numerous lectures, symposia sessions, workshops and meetings across a variety of subject matters, all of which can be found on the IBC 2024 website. The major topics of the event were:
Systematics, phylogenetics, biogeography and evolution
Ecology, environment and global change, including invasive species and plant-animal interactions
Biodiversity and conservation
Structure, physiology and development, including Evo-Devo
Genetics, genomics and bioinformatics
Plants and Society
At the closing ceremony, multiple awards were presented, including Pensoftâs Early Career Researcher Talk Award. Sandy Knapp presented the award to Sonia Molino for her talk on a global study of the genus Parablechnum, a lineage of ferns of the family Blechnaceae. The award grants her a free publication in PhytoKeys.Â
What a way to end @ibc2024 ! I can't believe how lucky I was to get the Early career researcher talk award on taxonomy or systematics by @Pensoft for my talk at the conference. And delivered by my admired @SandyKnapp! Thank you so much! See you in Cape Town! pic.twitter.com/Y79U1xcKxj
Describing her study, Sofia Molino said: âTo date there has been no study that takes into account all the centres of diversity of the genus at the same time, and what we have found is that it has a very complex evolutionary history, with several cases of cryptic diversity, hybridisation and rapid radiation.â
On her plans to use her free publication for a pending study on a series of novelties within Parablechnum in Bolivia, she added: âAlthough this is probably the country in South America where Parablechnum has been studied the most, after one expedition we have still found a lot of new things, such as several undescribed species, hybrids and new localities of some species that were only known from type material.”
The next International Botanical Congress is in 2029 and will take place in South Africa, where the Pensoft team looks forward to seeing plenty of new faces and old friends!
At the Pensoftâs stand, delegates learned about the scientific publisherâs versatile open-access journal portfolio, as well as related publishing services and the Horizon project where Pensoft is a partner.
Here’s a fun fact: the University of Bologna is the oldest one still in operation in the world. It is also etched in history for being the first institution to award degrees of higher learning.
This year, the annual event themed âBiodiversity positive by 2030â took place in the stunning Italian city of Bologna famous for its historical and cultural heritage, in a way building a bridge between the past of European civilisation and the future, which is now in our hands.
***
At the Pensoftâs stand, delegates learned about the scientific publisherâs versatile open-access journal portfolio of over 30 journals covering the fields of ecology and biodiversity, as well as other related services and products offered by Pensoft, including the end-to-end full-featured scholarly publishing platform ARPHA, which hosts and powers all Pensoft journals, in addition to dozens other academic outlets owned by learned societies, natural history museums and other academic institutions.
In addition to its convenient collaborative online environment, user interface and automated export/import workflows, what ARPHAâs clients enjoy perhaps the most, are the various human-provided services that come with the platform, including graphic and web design, assistance in journal indexing, typesetting, copyediting and science communication.
Visitors at the stand could also be heard chatting with Pensoftâs Head of Journal development, Marketing and PR: Iva Boyadzhieva about the publisherâs innovative solutions for permanent preservation and far-reaching dissemination and communication of academic outputs that do not match the traditional research article format.
For example, the Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) journal was launched in 2015 by Pensoft as an open-science journal that would publish âunconventionalâ research outputs, such as Grant proposals, Policy briefs, Project reports, Data management plans, Research ideas etc. Its project-branded open-science collections are in fact one of the Pensoftâs products that enjoys particular attention to participants in scientific projects funded by the likes of the European Commission’s Horizon programme.
Another innovation by Pensoft that easily becomes a talking point at forums like ECCB, is the ARPHA Conference Abstract (ACA) platform, which is basically a journal for conference abstracts, where abstracts are treated and published much like regular journal articles (a.k.a. ‘mini papers’) to enable permanent preservation, but also accessibility, discoverability and citability. Furthermore, ACA has been designed to act as an abstracts submission portal, where the abstracts undergo review and receive feedback before being published and indexed at dozens of relevant scientific databases.
On Wednesday, delegates also got a chance to hear the talk by renowned vegetation ecologist at the ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences and Editor-in-Chief at the Vegetation Classification and Survey journal: Prof. Dr. JĂŒrgen Dengler. He presented findings and conclusions concerning neophytes in Switzerland, while drawing comparisons with other European countries and regions.
đ± Presence of #neophytes is not necesarily problematic, and can actually have positive effect, concludes recent research on đšđSwiss #grasslands diversity.
At this yearâs ECCB, Pensoft took a stand as an active Horizon project participant too. At the publisher’s booth, the delegates could explore various project outputs produced within REST-COAST, SpongeBoost and BioAgora. Each of these initiatives has been selected by the European Commission to work on the mitigation of biodiversity decline, while aiming for sustainable ecosystems throughout the Old continent.
In all three projects, Pensoft is a consortium member, who contributes with expertise in science communication, dissemination, stakeholder engagement and technological development.
Having started earlier this year, SpongeBoost is to build upon existing solutions and their large-scale implementation by implementing innovative approaches to improve the functional capacity of sponge landscapes. The project is coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and will be developed with the active participation of 10 partnering institutions from seven countries across Europe.
In the meantime, since 2022, the five-year BioAgora project has been working towards setting up the Science Service for Biodiversity platform, which will turn into an efficient forum for dialogue between scientists, policy actors and other knowledge holders. BioAgora is a joint initiative, which brings together 22 partners from 13 European countries led by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).
4/𧔠The @HorizonEU project @BioAgoraEU is to create an efficient platform for dialogue between #scientists, policy actors & other knowledge holders.
Still, REST-COAST, SpongeBoost and BioAgora were not the only Horizon projects involving Pensoft that made an appearance at ECCB this year thanks to the Pensoft team.
On behalf of OBSGESSION – another Horizon-funded project, Nikola Ganchev, Communications officer at Pensoft, presented a poster about the recently started project. Until the end of 2027, the OBSGESSION project, also led by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and involving a total of 12 partnering organisations, will be tasked with the integration of different biodiversity data sources, including Earth Observation, in-situ research, and ecological models. Eventually, these will all be made into a comprehensive product for biodiversity management in both terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
On Tuesday evening, the CO-OP4CBD (abbreviation for Co-operation for the Convention on Biological Diversity) team: another Horizon Europe project, where Pensoft contributes with expertise in science communication and dissemination, held a workshop dedicated to what needs to be done to promote CBD activities in Central and Eastern Europe.
On the next day, scientists from the EuropaBON consortium: another project involving Pensoft that had concluded only about a month ago, held a session to report on the final conclusions from the project concerning the state and progress in biodiversity monitoring.
đEastern Europe and countries outside Europe underrepresented in the @EuropaBon_H2020 network, reports Christian Langer at #eccb2024bologna.
Scholarly publisher Pensoft is excited to announce it is now on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The move is aimed at fostering stronger connections with researchers, academics, and enthusiasts in China, which in turn will enhance the dissemination of scientific knowledge and facilitate international collaboration.
With over half a billion active users, Weibo is a powerful social media platform that combines the functionalities of microblogging and social networking. The Pensoft team is looking forward to engaging in real-time conversations with its Chinese audience, sharing insights, and receiving their feedback.
The launch coincides with the Dragon Boat Festival, a significant cultural event in China that commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan and symbolizes unity and teamwork.
The move aims to make Pensoftâs publications and updates more accessible to Chinese researchers, allowing them to stay informed about the latest scientific discoveries and advancements. In addition, it offers an excellent opportunity for Pensoft to foster collaborations with Chinese institutions, researchers, and academic societies.
As a pioneer in open-access publishing, Pensoft will also use its Weibo account to promote the benefits of open access, making sure Chinese research reaches a global audience without paywalls.
âChina, with its rapidly growing research output and a burgeoning community of scholars, represents a significant segment of the global academic landscape. Recognizing the importance of engaging with this vibrant community, Pensoftâs decision to establish a presence on Weibo underscores its commitment to inclusivity and accessibility in scientific publishing,â says Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder of Pensoft.
We invite you to join Pensoft’s Weibo account to learn all about our latest scientific discoveries and publishing updates.
Leiden – also known as the âCity of Keysâ 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 Commissionâs 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 projectâs 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 BiCIKLâs main outcome: the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub (BKH).
Key results from the BiCIKL project three years into its existence presented by Pensoftâs 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 âhotâ 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.
Projectâs coordinator Dr Quentin Groom presents the B-Cubedâs 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 projectâs 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 Pensoftâs 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 HĂžye (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 Pensoftâs involvement in this blog post.
MAMBOâs project coordinator Prof. Toke T. HĂžye 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, GerardandHĂžye, as presented at the EBR III conference.
***
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 âï»żIntroducing guidelines for publishing DNA-derived occurrence data through biodiversity data platformsâ 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.
***
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 âsufficiencyâ 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 termâs 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.
âThe 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.â
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
A study spearheaded by researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and Macquarie University has highlighted the important ecological role of traditional orchard meadows, calling for political and public support and incentives for farmers to protect these landscapes.
The paper, published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation, reviews the effects of management, habitat and landscape characteristics on the biodiversity of these areas in Central Europe.
Schematic figure illustrating the effects of management intensification on species richness. The graph illustrates the potential effect of management intensity (from high over intermediate to abandonment/rewilding) on species richness in orchard meadows.
Orchard meadows, characterised by the combination of cultivated grasslands and scattered fruit trees, exhibit high flora and fauna biodiversity. Despite their ecological value, these habitats have been in decline since the mid-19th century due their decreasing economic worth. They now face threats from land abandonment and intensification of agriculture.
The study emphasises the importance of moderate management intensity, connectivity to neighbouring habitats, and the preservation of structural diversity to maintain and enhance the conservation value of orchard meadows. The findings also advocate for a nuanced understanding of management impacts across taxonomic groups and points out the limitation of available studies on these habitats in Central Europe.
Currently loose in definition, the research team advocated for a clear definition of orchard meadows to create a common term in Europe, which would make their assessment and protection more straightforward. They suggest orchard meadows should be listed in the Habitats Directive of the Council of the European Union and farmers should get incentives for their maintenance. Finally, the research team calls for political and public support to prevent the loss and abandonment of these biodiverse landscapes.
âOne way the public support the protection of these habitats is through consumer behaviour, specifically by purchasing local products from orchard meadows. However, it is crucial to subsidise these local products and prioritize them at local markets.
âAs long as fruits from orchard meadows are treated as ‘by-products’ in the market, it will be challenging to convince people to buy local products. This change is necessary to close the economic gap between intensified fruit production and extensive orchard meadows.â
Cornelia Sattler, lead author.
Research paper
Sattler C, Schrader J, HĂŒttner M-L, Henle K (2024) Effects of management, habitat and landscape characteristics on biodiversity of orchard meadows in Central Europe: A brief review. Nature Conservation 55: 103-134. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.55.108688
The city of Cambridge and the Wellcome Campus hosted the Final General Assembly of the EU-funded project BiCIKL (acronym for Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library): a 36-month endeavour that saw 14 member institutions and 15 research infrastructures representing diverse actors from the biodiversity data realm come together to improve bi-directional links between different platforms, standards, formats and scientific fields. Consortium members who could not attend the meeting in Cambridge joined the meeting remotely.
After a welcome cocktail reception on Monday evening at Hilton Cambridge City Centre, on Tuesday, the consortium made an early start with a recap of BiCIKLâs key milestones and outputs from the last three years. All Work Package leaders had their own timeslot to discuss the results of their collaborations.
They all agreed that the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub – the one-stop portal for understanding the complex – yet increasingly interconnected landscape of biodiversity research infrastructures – is likely the flagship outcome of BiCIKL.
Prof. Lyubomir Penev, project coordinator of BiCIKL and founder/CEO of Pensoft Publishers at the BiCIKL’s third and final General Assembly in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
In the afternoon, the participants focused on the services developed under BiCIKL. Amongst the many services resulting from the project some were not originally planned. Rather those were the ânaturalâ products of the dialogue and collaboration that flourished within the consortium throughout the project. âA symptom of passion,â said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, project coordinator of BiCIKL and founder/CEO of Pensoft Publishers.
An excellent example of one such service is what the partners call the âBiodiversity PMCâ, which brings together biodiversity literature from thousands of scholarly journals and over 500,000 taxonomic treatments, in addition to the biomedical content available from NIHâs PubMed Central, into the SIB Literature Services (SIBiLS) database. Whatâs more, users at SIBiLS – be it human or AI – can now use advanced text- and data-mining tools, including AI-powered factoid question-answering capacities, to query all this full-text indexed content and seek out, for example, species traits and biotic interactions. Read more about the âBiodiversity PMCâ in its recent official announcement.
Far from being the only one, the âBiodiversity PMCâ is in good company: from the blockchain-based technology of LifeBlock to the curation of the DNA sequences by PlutoF, the BiCIKL project consortium takes pride in having developed twelve services dedicated to FAIR and linked ready-to-use biodiversity data.
On Wednesday, the consortium focused on BiCIKL’s activities from the Transnational and Virtual Access Pillar, which included both presentations by each open call leader and VA leader, as well as open discussions and a recap of what the teams have learnt from these experiences.
A panel discussion took place on Thursday as part of an open event, where BiCIKL partners and ELIXIR Biodiversity and Plant Communities came together to discuss the Future of Biodiversity and Genomics data integration at the EMBL Wellcome Genome Campus.
Thursday was dedicated to an open event where BiCIKL partners and ELIXIR Biodiversity and Plant Communities came together to discuss the Future of Biodiversity and Genomics data integration at the EMBL Wellcome Genome Campus. You can find the agenda on BiCIKL’s website.
After 36 months of action, the BiCIKL project will officially end in April 2024, but does it mean that all will be done and dusted come May 2024? Certainly not, point out the partners.
To ensure that the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub will not only continue to exist but will not cease to grow in both use and participation, the one-stop portal will remain under the maintenance of LifeWatch ERIC.
In conclusion, we could say that an appropriate payoff for the project is âStick together!â as put by BiCIKLâs Joint Research Activity Leader Dr. Quentin Groom.
Final words at the third and last General Assembly of the BiCIKL project.
You can find highlights from the BiCIKL General Assembly meeting on X via the #BiCIKL_H2020 hashtag (in association with #Cambridge and #finalGA)
All research outputs, including the approved grant proposal, policy briefs, guidelines papers and research articles associated with the project, remain openly accessible from the BiCIKL project outcomes collection in RIO Journal: https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.coll.105.
Conservationists have initiated breeding programmes in Vietnam to recover spotted softshell turtle populations threatened by overconsumption and habitat loss.
Based on a literature study, field surveys across Vietnam, and genetic screenings of collected samples, researchers estimated the range and conservation status of Pelodiscus variegatus, the spotted softshell turtle. The data were then used to model the speciesâ potential range in Vietnam.
Alarmingly, although several protected areas in Vietnam appear to harbour suitable habitats for the species, no populations were identified in any of the sites, indicating it is especially susceptible to extinction.
Release of juveile turtles in Vietnaam. Credit: C. T. Pham and T. Ziegler
To recover natural populations of the species, the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources and Cologne Zoo, Germany, initiated an in-country breeding programme. In late 2023, they released 50 young and healthy turtles to a site with suitable climate and habitat in northern Vietnam.
It is hoped that additional individuals will be reintroduced to protected areas in north-central Vietnam, the sanctuary of spotted softshell turtles, to reverse its declining trend and further contribute to the global Reverse the Red movement, a target best accomplished by applying the IUCNâs One Plan Approach to Conservation.
Softshell turtles of the genus Pelodiscus are broadly distributed from southeastern Siberia through China to Vietnam. However, their range is currently extended to Indonesia, northern Australia, western Europe, North America, Hawaii, and Mauritius as a result of human transportation and breeding activities.
The turtles are considered a delicacy in China and some Southeast Asian countries. In China alone, each year hundreds of million turtles are traded, making them the most widely consumed turtles in the world.
Traditionally, this genus had been considered monotypic with only one recognised species, the Chinese softshell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis). However, recent research has shown that the genus is much more diverse with at least seven species known to science.
Due to their morphological similarity, widespread farming activities, overharvesting, and their aquatic lifestyle, it is often difficult to study them in their natural habitat to better understand their distribution as well as their population and conservation status.
Like other congeners, the spotted softshell turtle is facing tremendous threats, from habitat loss to overharvesting for food and genetic pollution because the Chinese softshell turtle has been farmed across the country, imperilling the native genetic sources.
As the result, the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group, the global authority on taxonomic and conservation status of turtles worldwide, provisionally classifies the species as Critically Endangered, the highest ranking for taxa most vulnerable to extinction.
Original post:
Le MD, Rödder D, Nguyen TT, The Pham C, Nguyen TQ, Ong AV, McCormack TEM, Nguyen TT, Le MH, Ngo HT, Ziegler T (2024) Climatic niche modelling and genetic analyses highlight conservation priorities for the Spotted Softshell Turtle (Pelodiscus variegatus). Nature Conservation 55: 67-82. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.55.114746
Leading scholarly publisher Pensoft has announced a strategic collaboration with R Discovery, the AI-powered research discovery platform by Cactus Communications, a renowned science communications and technology company. This partnership aims to revolutionize the accessibility and discoverability of research articles published by Pensoft, making them more readily available on R Discovery to its over three million researchers across the globe.
R Discovery, acclaimed for its advanced algorithms and an extensive database boasting over 120 million scholarly articles, empowers researchers with intelligent search capabilities and personalized recommendations. Through its innovative Reading Feed feature, R Discovery delivers tailored suggestions in a format reminiscent of social media, identifying articles based on individual research interests. This not only saves time but also keeps researchers updated with the latest and most relevant studies in their field.
Open Science is much more than cost-free access to research output.
Lyubomir Penev
One of R Discovery’s standout features is its ability to provide paper summaries, audio readings, and language translation, enabling users to quickly assess a paper’s relevance and enhance their research reading experience significantly.
With over 2.5 million app downloads and upwards of 80 million journal articles featured, the R Discovery database is one of the largest scholarly content repositories.
âAt Pensoft, we do realise that Open Science is much more than cost-free access to research outputs. It is also about easier discoverability and reusability, or, in other words, how likely it is for the reader to come across a particular scientific publication and, as a result, cite and build on those findings in his/her own studies. By feeding the content of our journals into R Discovery, weâre further facilitating the discoverability of the research done and shared by the authors who trust us with their work,â said ARPHAâs and Pensoftâs founder and CEO Prof. Lyubomir Penev.
Abhishek Goel, Co-Founder and CEO of Cactus Communications, commented on the collaboration, âWe are delighted to work with Pensoft and offer researchers easy access to the publisherâs high-quality research articles on R Discovery. This is a milestone in our quest to support academia in advancing open science that can help researchers improve the world.â
So far, R Discovery has successfully established partnership with over 20 publishers, enhancing the platformâs extensive repository of scholarly content. By joining forces with R Discovery, Pensoft solidifies its dedication to making scholarly publications from its open-access, peer-reviewed journal portfolio easily discoverable and accessible.
Despite the success of 2023, the Pensoft team is keener than ever to improve in every aspect in the coming year. A massive thank you to every author, editor, reviewer and reader of Pensoft’s journals, and a very happy New Year!
