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Meet Noor Pakistan: The multilingual chatbot ready to assist at the defence exhibition

Around 40 mobile chatbot robots offering support in 25 different languages are being prepared for the IDEAS exhibition





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Florida airport encounters unusual 'ground traffic'

A representational image of an alligator. — AFP/file

A large alligator wandering among the planes on the tarmac at a Florida airport was captured on video by a passenger on a moving plane.

The animal, estimated by witnesses to be about 10-feet long, was seen making its way...




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Streaming Video Prices Rise While Quality Falls, Following Cable TV’s Lead

Streaming video still provides some meaningful advantages to traditional cable: it’s generally cheaper (assuming you don’t sign up for every service under the sun); customer satisfaction ratings are generally higher; and users have more power to pick and choose and cancel services at a whim. But the party simply isn’t poised to last. Thanks to […]




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Benny Blanco spills on special morning ritual with Selena Gomez: 'Our Moment'

Benny Blanco spills on special moment of day with Selena Gomez

Benny Blanco candidly shared that the early morning hours are his "favorite time" with Selena Gomez

In a recent chat with People, the music producer uncovered that he is a "real morning person" and this is his favorite...




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The war of words — and visuals

The weaponisation of media, is an immediate menace to be wary of.




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Using Six Sigma in Your Personal Life - Quality for Life - ASQ

In this Quality for life video, Kevin Holston, a certified Black Belt, shares how he uses Six Sigma tools in his everyday life, including providing humorous examples of how keeps his life in order and on track.




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Argentina, Brazil stunned in WC qualifiers

Colombia's James Rodriguez scores the winner against the defending champions





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Simple Session 2018 - kunstform Team Qualification





Simple Session 2018 - kunstform Team Qualification


Our homies Felix Prangenberg, Miguel Smajli, Robin Kachfi and Felix Donat have reached a great result at this years Simple Session and we're more then just proud of our bros and we looking forward to next year! Watch the Simple Session Qualification runs of our bros right here!

Enjoy the Video, your kunstform BMX Shop Team!



Video: Robin Kachfi



subscribe to our youtube channel: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/kunstformbmxshop





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ICC launches 'new visual identity' for Champions Trophy

An undated picture of ICC Champions Trophy. — ICC

KARACHI: The International Cricket Council has revealed a new visual identity for the upcoming men’s and women’s Champions Trophy events, marking the return of the prestigious tournament after a...




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Derk Haank to succeed Peter Wakkie as Chairman of the Supervisory Board as of the 2019 Annual General Meeting

Derk Haank to succeed Peter Wakkie as Chairman of the Supervisory Board as of the 2019 Annual General Meeting




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Poll shows public jittery about the election, both parties equally so

The presidential election is right around the corner. This event has not put the nation in a very good mood.




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Archbishop of Canterbury under fire after sexual abuse cover-up scandal in Church of England

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is facing mounting pressure to step down after a report revealed years of institutional cover-ups by the Church of England, allowing a known abuser to operate unchecked for years.




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Spiritual Reality Over Physical Illusion

Learn some of the amazing evidence of the eternal spiritual universe of the Bible, and why the physical world is a mere temporary illusion by comparison.




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1600 Sulgrave Ave, part 1: Actually, I’ve become myself

This North Baltimore neighborhood is just inside the city line, but it’s got the cloistered feel of an affluent suburban hamlet. High-end consignment boutiques, beauty salons, and restaurants bring well-heeled locals to Sulgrave Avenue in Mount Washington Village, a quiet world away from the traffic and sirens of downtown.




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Norris will start Brazilian Grand Prix from pole with Verstappen 16th after rain-affected qualifying

McLaren driver Lando Norris will start Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix from pole with Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen in 16th after struggling in his Red Bull during a rain-affected qualifying session that was marred by five crashes.




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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby steps down amid sexual abuse scandal in Church of England

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announced his resignation Tuesday, taking "personal and institutional responsibility" after an inquiry found he failed to promptly report abuse allegations against a Church of England volunteer.




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Catcher Gary Sanchez becomes free agent after 2025 mutual option with Brewers gets declined

Gary Sanchez's $11 million mutual option for 2025 was declined by the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, making the catcher a free agent.




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Vatican, Microsoft create AI-generated St. Peter's Basilica to allow virtual visits, log damage

The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world's most important monument's while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems.




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Japan's nuclear watchdog disqualifies a reactor for the first time since Fukushima disaster

Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday formally disqualified a reactor in the country's north-central region from restarting, the first rejection under safety standards that were reinforced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The decision is a setback for Japan as it seeks to accelerate reactor restarts to maximize nuclear power.




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Virtual Christian Weekly Worship Services

Online Christian virtual worship services, with streaming music, Bible teaching, searchable Bible...even an offering. Visit this weekly worship service any time, 24/7.




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Queen Camilla will miss the U.K.'s annual Remembrance Sunday events due to chest infection

Queen Camilla will miss Britain's annual remembrance weekend events to honor fallen service personnel while she recovers from a chest infection, Buckingham Palace said Saturday.




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43rd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In 2013, the University of Potsdam will host the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The meeting (www.gfoe-2013.de) will take place from September 9 to 13, 2013 in Potsdam, Germany.

The guiding theme of the 43rd Annual Meeting is "Building bridges in ecology - linking systems, scales and disciplines".
Along the lines of this guiding theme, we will stimulate scientific discussions about all aspects in basic and applied ecological research contributing to better connect.

 

 





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Job Alert: PhD Position in Visualization of Biodiversity Data

The Heinz-Nixdorf-Chair for Distributed Information Systems at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (Germany) invites applications for a fully funded PhD student position in Biodiversity Data Visualization for the data management project of the Biodiversity Exploratories (BE) Priority Program.

Deadline for application: 2nd, May 2014

Start date: June 2014 or later

What this is about

The data management project provides the platform for data storage and information exchange for the projects of the DFG Priority Program "Biodiversity Exploratories". Examples of the thematic focus of the projects include botany, forestry, soil, animal, fluxes, modeling, and remote sensing. This diversity is reflected in the format, structure, and semantics of their data which we manage.

Tasks in this project will be centered on the investigation and development of novel visualization methods and user-friendly tools for exploration, search and discovery, quality assurance and integration of the heterogeneous, large volume biodiversity data.  Overall, the study should contribute to the science of visualization for big-data-driven biodiversity research.

More information on the requirements, conditions and how to apply find in the official job offer attached below.

 





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Gap analysis and priorities for filling identified gaps in data coverage and quality

High-quality biodiversity data is essential for answering key questions on biodiversity in Europe, for example regarding the state and trends of species or for evaluating ecosystem services and functions on various scales. A new EU BON report "Gap analysis and priorities for filling identified gaps in data coverage and quality" evaluates the state of available biodiversity information and points out gaps of available biodiversity information sources.

The report aims to assess relevant data sources on biodiversity on a European and global scale. The assessment particularly evaluates the gaps of available biodiversity information sources and, after outlining the most important ones, identifies priorities for improving the data availability and gives recommendations of how they can be closed.

The report is divided into three main sections, starting first with an overall overview of gaps and limitations of biodiversity datasets. After outlining some general limitations of biodiversity data in Europe, the key findings from the specific analyses are summarized along with recommendations of how existing gaps can be closed. The last part presents a chapter containing the specific gap analysis for a selection of several main global and European datasets. The datasets represent some main sources for biodiversity data, either for specific realms (terrestrial, marine, freshwater), taxonomic groups, thematic fields (taxonomy, genetic databases) or networks of European test sites.

 





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VIBRANT: New virtual research communities to create and share data on biodiversity

Data sharing tools developed by an EU project are helping scientists worldwide understand more about the planet’s millions of species. A new article published on CORDIS and DAE looks into the benefits of the FP7 funded project VIBRANT.

One of the biggest challenges facing natural history experts is how to classify and share the mass of data constantly being collected on the Earth’s millions of species.

The three-year VIBRANT project developed a network of online scientific communities collecting data on biodiversity and equipped them with the tools for sharing and publishing their data. Through these activities the project contributed to reducing the fragmentation of efforts aiming to develop biodiversity informatics systems and software.
Based on Scratchpads, an open-source and free to use online platform, VIBRANT has helped create hundreds of new online communities.

The communities are linked together online and feed their data into the most important international biodiversity databases. VIBRANT helps users prepare papers for publication, build bibliographic databases and create reference collections of images and observations. A tool for rapid geospatial analysis of species distributions, a citizen-science marine monitoring platform as well as a biodiversity data analysis framework are also part of the ecosystem of services developed by VIBRANT.

ANTS TO BATS, LOBSTERS TO WHALES

VIBRANT has grown the number of user communities from around 100 under EDIT, an earlier EU project, to over 580 today. Some 6 500 active users are investigating an enormous range of species, at global scale. One site alone on stick insects (phasmids) has over 1 000 users, revealing the large community of people interested in culturing phasmid species.

‘My taxonomic background is in parasitic lice, of which there are about 5 000 particular species that live on about 5 000 mammals and 10 000 birds. Fighting to study that group, I found it enormously difficult to manage all this information,’ explained VIBRANT coordinator Dr Vince Smith, of London’s Natural History Museum.
Using the Scratchpads template, professional and amateur scientists, wherever they are based in the world, create their own subject-specific websites hosted at the museum.

They share their data by publishing it online, while retaining ownership over it and respecting the terms and conditions of the network set up by VIBRANT.
Scratchpads also provides ready access to a range of analytical tools, identification keys and databases that have been developed or enhanced throughout the project.
VIBRANT has also set up a novel, community peer-reviewed, open-access journal, the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ). Scratchpads users can input their research into a template which then makes it possible for them to produce a specific paper, publishing it internationally, online, in the BDJ and crediting them for the research. This is made possible via the development of the Pensoft Writing Tool (PWT), which is a leading example of the next generation of scholarly publishing. The PWT is acting as an integrated authoring, peer-review publishing and online collaborative platform which links the Scratchpads to the BDJ.

BIG DATA IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION EFFORT

VIBRANT helps all researchers to easily share and link their data with major biodiversity repositories. For example, the Scratchpads collaborate with GBIF (the Global Biodiversity Information Facility), PESI (the EU’s Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure), the Biodiversity Heritage Library and the online collaborative Encyclopedia of Life, which is aiming to document all the planet’s 1.9 million known living species.

Dr Thomas Couvreur in Cameroon is maintaining a Scratchpads community on African palms and the tropical plant family Annonaceae. ‘They provide a professional platform for collaboration between my colleagues around the world, allowing us to share resources such as photos of species, datasets, bibliography and general information,’ he commented. Another coordinator, Eli Sarnat, in California, USA, has one on ants: ‘The platform has solved a big challenge for me: what biodiversity data I should be recording and how I should be recording it.’

The VIBRANT project ran from December 2010 to November 2013. It involved 17 partners from 9 countries, led by the Natural History Museum, London, and received FP7 funding of 4.75 million euros.




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Article alert: Advancing species diversity estimate by remotely sensed proxies: A conceptual review

A new EU BON acknowledged paper "Advancing species diversity estimate by remotely sensed proxies: A conceptual review" has been recently published in the journal Ecological Informatics.

Abstract: 

Many geospatial tools have been advocated in spatial ecology to estimate biodiversity and its changes over space and time. Such information is essential in designing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation and management. Remote sensing is one of the most powerful approaches to identify biodiversity hotspots and predict changes in species composition in reduced time and costs. This is because, with respect to field-based methods, it allows to derive complete spatial coverages of the Earth surface under study in a short period of time. Furthermore, remote sensing provides repeated coverages of field sites, thus making studies of temporal changes in biodiversity possible. In this paper we discuss, from a conceptual point of view, the potential of remote sensing in estimating biodiversity using various diversity indices, including alpha- and beta-diversity measurements.

Original Source: 

Rocchini D, Hernández-Stefanoni J L, He KS (2014) Advancing species diversity estimate by remotely sensed proxies: A conceptual review. Ecological Informatics. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.10.006





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New life for old data: Integrating and visualizing primary biodiversity data from prospective and legacy taxonomic literature

XML markup of taxonomic research and specimen data is a valuable tool for structuring the incessantly accumulating biodiversity knowledge. It allows for the opportunity to collectively use the currently fragmented information for more detailed analysis.

A new research paper, published in theBiodiversity Data Journal, demonstrates how XML markup using GoldenGATE can address the challenges presented by unstructured legacy data, like those presented in the widely used PDF format. The paper demonstrates how structured primary biodiversity data can be extracted from such legacy sources and aggregated with and jointly queried with data from other Darwin Core-compatible sources, to present a visualization of these data that can communicate key information contained in biodiversity literature.

Specimen data in taxonomic literature are among the highest quality primary biodiversity data. Innovative cybertaxonomic journals such as the Biodiversity Data Journal are using workflows that preserve the data's structure and semantic specificity and disseminate electronic content to aggregators and other users that makes these data reusable.

Such structure however is lost in traditional taxonomic publishing and currently, access to that resource is cumbersome, especially for non-specialist data consumers.

The question is: how do you manage this vast distributed repository of knowledge about biodiversity to make it easily available reusable for future research?

To answer this challenge this project queried XML structured articles published in Biodiversity Data Journal along with historical taxonomic literature marked up using GoldenGATE, and represents the results as a series of standard charts. XML structured documents are maintained by the Swiss NGO Plazi and are freely available online.

In such form, data associated with specimens becomes much more valuable as it can reveal key information about a particular species, and even about the scientists who investigate them. Charts indicate at a glance, for example, what time of year and elevation range a species is likely to be found at, useful information if you want to search for it in the field.

Our accumulated biodiversity knowledge includes an estimated 2-3 billion specimens in natural history collections and 500 million pages of printed text. These are the data we need to answer questions that are relevant to our world today, like setting conservation priorities and anticipating the effects of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem functions that affect the lives of people.

"In short, we have half a billion pages worth of biodiversity knowledge and are just learning how to query it. The real power comes when data from many articles are combined, queried, and reused for new purposes. Potential applications span the scientific, policy, and public spheres. When we all have better access to the information that already exists in the global corpus of biodiversity literature, this helps us do a better job of exploring what we don't know and wisely applying what we do." explains the lead author Dr Jeremy Miller, Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

###

This project was supported by pro-iBiosphere and EU BON, two FP-7 (European Union Seventh Framework Programme, 2007-2013) grants (No 312848 and 308454).

Original source:

Miller J, Agosti D, Penev L, Sautter G, Georgiev T, Catapano T, Patterson D, King D, Pereira S, Vos R, Sierra S (2015) Integrating and visualizing primary data from prospective and legacy taxonomic literature. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e5063. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e5063

 





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European Environmental Agency (EEA) Annual Report 2014

The European Environmental Agency (EEA) has published its Annual Report describing the work carried out by the EEA in 2014. The EEA annual report includes the EMAS environmental statement 2014.

The EEA aims to support sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policymaking agents and the public.

Download the report here.

 

 





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The GEO BON bi-annual progress report is now available

The new GEO BON bi-annual report is now published. It provides an overview of the activities developed by our network over the last two years. It starts with a brief presentation of the GEO BON mission and structure.

It also presents the two core activities of GEO BON: the development of the Essential Biodiversity Variables framework and of the Bon-in-a-Box toolkit. The different national, regional and thematic biodiversity observation networks associated with GEO BON are presented. The report highlights the most important activities from each of the nine working groups of GEO BON, where experts around the world work around specific biodiversity monitoring topics. 

For more information, download the report here.

 





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Article Alert: A virtual species set for robust and reproducible species distribution modelling tests

A new EU BON acknowledging data article provides a virtual species set as a valuable tool in biodiversity monitoring. 

Abstract

Predicting species potential and future distribution has become a relevant tool in biodiversity monitoring and conservation. In this data article we present the suitability map of a virtual species generated based on two bioclimatic variables, and a dataset containing more than 700,000 random observations at the extent of Europe. The dataset includes spatial attributes such as: distance to roads, protected areas, country codes, and the habitat suitability of two spatially clustered species (grassland and forest species) and a wide-spread species.

Original Source:

Garzon-Lopez, C.X., Bastin, L., Foody, G.M., Rocchini, D. (2016). A virtual species set for robust and reproducible Species Distribution Modelling tests. Data in Brief, 7: 476-479. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2016.02.058





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Annual Conference of the Society for Tropical Ecology

In 2013, the University of Vienna will host the Annual Conference of the Society for Tropical Ecology (Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie, gtö), focusing on Tropical Ecology in a Changing World. The conference will run from April 02 to 05, 2013 in Vienna, Austria. The conference aims at maximizing interactions among scientists of all disciplines and backgrounds who are interested in tropical ecology and biodiversity.
Ongoing global change processes along the inter-twined dimensions of climate and land-use pose tremendous challenges for maintaining ecosystem functions. Traditionally, ecological research on climate change had its focus on high altitude and latitude biomes that severely and rapidly suffer from warming. Yet, effects of climate change on tropical ecosystems and organisms can be equally strong. In addition, changes in land-use exert ever increasing pressures especially on tropical biota. Understanding these processes is crucial to allow for predicting and mitigating adverse effects of forthcoming changes on tropical biodiversity and its role in ecosystem functioning. The annual conference of the Society for Tropical Ecology (gtö) will provide an interdisciplinary platform for discussion, particularly on the following topics:
- Climate change effects on tropical biota
- Influence of land-use changes on tropical biota
- Tropical biodiversity and ecosystem functioning under Global Change

Further Information: http://www.gtoe-conference.de/





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BioFresh Annual Meeting 2013

Organizers: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ & Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries - IGB
Place: Schloß Machern, Leipzig, Germany
Event web page: BioFresh Annual Meeting 2013





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OpenUp! 2nd annual meeting

The OpenUp! meeting will be held in the new building of the National Museum in Prague  from April 24th through 26th, 2013. The second day (April 25th) of the meeting is open for everyone, whereas the first and last days are for project participants and/or Steering Committee with officials from the EC only.

For more information please visit OpenUp! Meeting website - http://www.conferencepartners.cz/openup/index.htm





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43rd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In 2013, the University of Potsdam will host the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The meeting (www.gfoe-2013.de) will take place from September 9 to 13, 2013 in Potsdam, Germany.

The guiding theme of the 43rd Annual Meeting is "Building bridges in ecology - linking systems, scales and disciplines".
Along the lines of this guiding theme, we will stimulate scientific discussions about all aspects in basic and applied ecological research contributing to better connect.





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2013 TDWG Annual Conference

Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) will hold its annual conference in Florence, Italy on October 28 – November 1.  it  will be held at the Grand Hotel Mediterraneo but attendees will be free to choose from any of the accommodations in the area, many within a short distance.  Registration details will be provided early in 2013.

 





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8th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group for Macroecology

Integrating mechanisms into macroecology 

8th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group for Macroecology of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (GfÖ)

Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, Department Geobotany & Botanical Garden, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle (Saale), Germany

Linking processes and mechanistic approaches (e.g., from physiology, experimental ecology, demography, and evolution) with macroecological approaches, scales, and methods has long been discussed among macroecologists. Still, only few steps toward implementing such links have been taken, yet. With the 8th Annual Meeting of the Specialist Group for Macroecology of the GfÖ, we want to offer a forum for presenting and discussing both tested approaches and new ideas to make these links. Additionally, in order to move beyond discussion, we invite all participants to join the conference workshop on the 2nd day. Here, we plan to intensively discuss gaps in existing approaches and possible ways for bridging these gaps in several discussion groups and to take first steps towards publishing the summarized workshop results. 

http://www.macroecology.org/





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GfOe Annual Meeting 2014

In 2014, the University of Hildesheim will host the 44th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The meeting will take place from September 8th to 12th, 2014 in Hildesheim, Germany. The guiding theme of the 44th Annual Meeting is "Integrating ecological knowledge into nature conservation and ecosystem management".

Along the lines of this guiding theme, we will stimulate scientific discussions on basic and applied ecological topics as well as on nature conservation and management. Special focus will be given to:

  • biodiversity research (e.g. diversity of genes, species and ecosystems; threats and conservation)
  • ecosystem functioning (e.g. ecosystem services, processes and functions, ecological dynamics)
  • species and populations (e.g. interactions, competition, adaption, survival, community assembly, past and current pattern)
  • ecosystem types (e.g. marine, aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; from polar to tropical regions, from lowlands to mountains)
  • global change effects (e.g. climate change, land use change, nutrient deposition, invasive species)
  • management (e.g. general and international approaches, restoration ecology, sustainable land management)
  • conservation approaches (e.g. linking ecological knowledge to nature conservation, environmental education, sustainability, community conservation, socio-ecological approaches, policy advice)

Call for Sessions started on December 18, 2013.  The deadline for proposals has been extended until 28 February, 2013. Proposals addressing the guiding theme of the meeting as well as all other topics relevant to ecologists are welcomed.

Proposals should include the following information:

1.       A session title

2.       A short title (max 5 words or 50 characters)

3.       The goal of the session (half A4 page)

4.       Names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of chairs (up to three chairs per session)

5.       List of potential speakers

(Please note: all potential speakers will have to register and pay registration fee)

If you would like to propose and chair a session, please submit your proposal to http://www.gfoe-2014.de/index.php?cat=call_sessions.





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British Ecological Society and French Ecological Society (BEsFE) joint 2014 annual meeting 9 – 12 December, France

The British Ecological Society and the French Ecology Society are pleased to invite you to Lille for a joint conference which will bring together for the first time ecologists of our two countries. The aim of the conference will promote exchanges and debates on major advances in scientific ecology, and strengthen cooperation between the French and British researchers of tomorrow. The meeting will be held on 9 – 12 December at the Grand Palais, Lille, France.

The British Ecological Society and French Ecological Society invite proposals for symposia sessions at their 2014 Annual Meeting. Symposia sessions at the Annual Meeting highlight some of the most important and timely science in ecology.  They provide the overarching structure and scientific focal point to the meeting.

The topics provide a showcase and forum for the discussion of key ecological questions, vision for the future and encourage integration among disciplines. As ever, timely and well organised submissions from across the breadth of ecology are welcome; however, building on the bi-national meeting and the introduction of the EU Horizon 2020 programme of research funding, we particularly encourage submissions that highlight international and EU focused topics:

•    Agro-ecology and the CAP
•    Biodiversity and ecosystem services
•    Evolutionary ecology and disease
•    Marine ecology and the EU Marine Directive
•    Freshwater ecology and the EU Water Directive
•    Horizon 2020 Tackling Societal Challenges: http://bit.ly/193Fbo3

The deadline for submissions is 31 January 2014.

The three full days of science can accommodate 18 half day symposia sessions.  Symposia proposals should include one keynote speaker allocated a 30 minute presentation and then five invited speakers, each allocated 15 minute slots.  Time devoted to synthesis and discussion is possible, but at the discretion of the organisers.  In exceptional circumstances, we will consider a full day session.

Proposers are responsible for the speakers submitting their abstracts and registrations on time.

- See more at: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/events/current_future_meetings/2014-annual-meeting/





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SETAC Europe 25th Annual Meeting - Environmental protection in a multi-stressed world: challenges for science, industry and regulators

The SETAC Europe 25th Annual Meeting will be held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, from 3-7 May 2015.  

The innovative use of chemicals and nanomaterials in new technologies, industry and agriculture challenges many aspects of the ecosystem functioning of the global environment. However, these new technologies and materials also offer opportunities to remediate or minimise these anthropogenic insults. Finding innovative solutions to environmental problems is ever more important in the current economic scenario.  This international conference brings together experts from government, industry, consultancy and academia to meet this challenge. The conference will focus on the most recent advances in environmental sciences and will provide platforms for implementing this knowledge, for improving the protection of our environment and to shape policies from current viewpoints to future needs.

Learn more here: http://barcelona.setac.eu/general_info/welcome!/?contentid=790&pr_id=766&last=769&sub=790

 





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GfOe Annual Meeting

 

In 2015, the University of Göttingen will host the 45th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The meeting will take place from August 31st to September 4 th, 2015 in Göttingen, Germany. 

The guiding theme of the 45th Annual Meeting is "Ecology for a Sustainable Future". Along the lines of this guiding theme, we will stimulate scientific discussions on basic and applied ecological topics as well as on nature conservation and management. Special focus will be given to: 

  • Species, populations and ecosystems (e.g. interactions, competition, adaption, survival, community assembly, past and current pattern, all types of ecosystems)
  • ecosystem functioning (e.g. ecosystem services, processes and functions, ecological dynamics)
  • global change effects (e.g. climate change, land use change, nutrient deposition, invasive species, mitigation, effects on biodiversity)
  • impact of land use (biodiversity, ecosystem functions, restoration ecology, sustainable land management)
  • conservation approaches (e.g. linking ecological knowledge to nature conservation, environmental education, sustainability, community conservation, socio-ecological approaches, policy advice)

Submission of abstracts: from 31 March 2015 to 15 May 2015

For more information, registration and to submit an abstract, please visit the official webpage of teh conference: http://www.gfoe-2015.de/index.php?cat=show_start

 

 





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TDWG 2015 Annual Conference

 

The 2015 Biodiversity Informatics TDWG Annual Conference will be held from 28 September to 3 October 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme of the conference is Applications, Standards and Capacity Building for Sustaining Global Biodiversity.  Subprograms will include: Digitization, Semantic Technologies, Phyloinformatics, Outreach and Collaboration, ePublications, Trait Data, and Conservation informatics. 

A  5-day capacity building workshop for African participants in the conference is being organized for the week before the conference (21-25 September). The primary focus of the training is on biodiversity collection digitization, biodiversity databases, data cleaning, and georeferencing, but other topics are being considered. 

For more information about the conference, how to register, programme and call for papers, please visit the ofiicial event webpage.

 





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iDiv Annual Conference 2015

The iDiv Annual Conference 2015 will take place on 2 & 3 December 2015 at BIO CITY, Leipzig. The call for abstracts is now openalso open with a deadline 15 October.

The aim of the iDiv Annual Conference is to provide a forum for scientific exchange between scientists at all levels of the iDiv consortium, and for establishing new contacts and collaborations. The conference will offer sessions on the iDiv main research areas and focusing on each of the iDiv platforms. There will be keynote talks on highlighted iDiv themes, and also a poster session. 

Register abstract here portal.idiv.de/vibe/idiv/conference2015. The deadline for registrations is the 15th of October. 

More information is available here: 

Post-conference event: The first iDiv Science Hackathon will immediately follow the conference (4 - 6 December). The aim of this hackathon is to attract researchers from a variety of iDiv member groups to catalyze the efficient realization of highly novel collaborative projects focusing on evolution and adaptation. 





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2016 Annual LTER-Europe & eLTER project meetings

The Annual meetings of the LTER-Europe network and the eLTER H2020 project will take place between 13 and 17 June, 2016 in Latvia. 

The annual LTER-Europe meeting will take place during this week, along with the annual eLTER H2020 project meeting. The current outline schedule (subject to change) is:

  • Monday 13 June, 18:00 - 22:00: Welcome party
  • Tuesday 14 June, 09:00 - 17:00: LTER-Europe meeting
  • Wednesday 15 June, 09:00 - 18:00: eLTER H2020 project meeting
  • Thursday 16 June, 09:00 - 18:00: eLTER H2020 project meeting
  • Friday 17 June, 09:00 - 12:00: eLTER Core Team meeting

For updated information go to: http://www.lter-europe.net/events/lter-europe-2016





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31st Annual SPNHC Meeting: "Green Museum – How to practice what we preach?"

The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin are organizing the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) to be held from June 20 through 25, 2016, in Berlin, Germany.

Under the heading "Green Museum – How to practice what we preach?" this meeting of the society evaluates green thinking in collections, museums and botanical gardens. In a world of climate change and ever decreasing biodiversity, sustainability  should be the criterion that ideally determines all planning and decisions, ranging from field work to construction projects,  from ethical aspects to cost-benefit analyses.

In practice this often is compromised by constraints beyond the control of the institution, be it monetary, legal or other. The conference will offer a forum to discuss possible ways of reconciling the seemingly opposing requirements. 

More information here.





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GfOe Annual Meeting

In 2016, the University of Marburg hosts the 46th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The meeting (www.gfoe-2016.de) will take place from September 5 to 9, 2016 in Marburg, Germany.

Call for sessions:

The organizing committee encourages all members of the GfÖ and all scientists interested in ecological research to organize and chair further sessions for presentations or workshops.

Proposals for sessions will be accepted from 15 December to 15 February 2016. We welcome proposals addressing the guiding theme of the meeting as well as all other topics relevant to ecologists.

Topics:

1. Functional and evolutionary ecology

2. Multitrophic interactions

3. Ecosystem and global change

4 Macroecology and biogeography

5. Ecological services and social ecology

6. Conservation

If you would like to propose and chair a session, please submit your proposal to www.gfoe-2016.de.





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14th FishBase Annual Symposium, "FishBase and SeaLifeBase: a diversity of uses for biodiversity studies"

Theme:  FishBase and SeaLifeBase: a diversity of uses for biodiversity studies  

Date:      September 9, 2016

Venue:   Amphitheatre Rouelle, Museum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris

See tentative program/agenda below..

Open to all interested. If you wish to attend this event, contact:

Patrice Pruvost
Chargé de conservation d'ichtyologie
UMR Borea-7208
Département milieux et peuplements aquatiques
Museum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN)
CP26 - 43 rue cuvier
tel : 33 1 40 79 37 60
fax : 33 1 40 79 37 71
75005 Paris
E-mail: pruvost@mnhn.fr





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TDWG 2016 Annual Conference

The TDWG 2016 Annual Conference  will take place from 5 to 9 December 2016 in Santa Clara de San Carlos, COSTA RICA. The conference theme this year is: Standards Supporting Innovation in Biodiversity Research and Conservation.

Standards for the description and exchange of biodiversity information help promote research, support decision-making for conservation and planning, and provide a means of communicating observations by both professional and citizen scientists across taxa and political boundaries. TDWG standards are an integral foundation of the largest biodiversity information sources, but given the wealth and diversity of information collected for plants, animals, and fossils, the need remains to extend and refine the concepts required to achieve greater integration for the discovery of knowledge and its use in biodiversity conservation.

This year, TDWG is focusing its annual meeting not only on supporting research, decision making, and communication of biodiversity information, but also on how standards can support innovative research. Scientific innovations often "stand on the shoulders of giants," but they can also be disruptive -- causing major changes in the way that science works.  To what extent do our standards promote innovation, and does the most innovative research show us where our  standards need to be refined and extended? Current research both in Computer Science (e.g., deep learning, computer vision, ambient computing) and Biodiversity Sciences offers excellent opportunities for multidisciplinary innovative synergies among researchers, decision makers, students, and citizen scientists. 

For more information and to register: http://www.tdwg.org/conference2016/