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In Phase I, a detailed analysis of the demand side (information requirement) and the supply side (available information from existing monitoring schemes) was already carried out.Subsequently, the priority questions were delineated and an initial impetus was given to the methodology required in order to answer these priority questions.The Phase I results for the species have been described previously (Adriaens et al. 2011).In Phase II, the data collection for the different species was elaborated in detail.This includes the sampling method and the monitoring scheme design (number of monitoring locations and the selection procedure).Based on this, a blueprint for future data collection was drawn up for each species group (De Knijf et al. 2014).An important starting point in developing these blueprints is that data collection must be done in a cost-effective and sustainable way by involving citizen scientists.Considerable consideration was therefore given to the practical feasibility of the proposed data collection in terms of measurement effort required, use of advanced equipment and the like.The present report bundles the existing monitoring networks in Flanders and discusses how a new species monitoring network was designed to monitor the missing species relevant to policy.

The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) began in 2000 as the repository for data from the Census of Marine Life. Since that time, OBIS has expanded its goals beyond simply hosting data to supporting more aspects of marine conservation (Pooter et al. 2017). In order to accomplish those goals, the OBIS secretariat in partnership with its European node (EurOBIS) hosted at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ, Belgium), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE, 23rd session, March 2015, Brugge) established a 2-year pilot project to address a particularly problematic issue that environmental data collected as part of marine biological research were being disassociated from the biological data. OBIS-Event-Data is the solution that was developed from that pilot project, which devised a method for keeping environmental data together with the biological data (Pooter et al. 2017). OBIS is seeking early adopters of the new data standard OBIS-Event-Data from among the marine biodiversity monitoring communities, to further validate the data standard, and develop data products and scientific applications to support the enhancement of Biological and Ecosystem Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) in the framework of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO BON MBON). After the successful 2-year IODE pilot project OBIS-ENV-DATA, the IOC established a new 2-year IODE pilot project OBIS-Event-Data for Scientific Applications (2017-2019). The OBIS-Event-Data data standard, building on Darwin Core, provides a technical solution for combined biological and environmental data, and incorporates details about sampling methods and effort, including event hierarchy. It also implements standardization of parameters involved in biological, environmental, and sampling details using an international standard controlled vocabulary (British Oceanographic Data Centre Natural Environment Research Council). A workshop organized by IODE/OBIS in April brought together major animal tagging and tracking networks such as the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), the Animal Telemetry Network (ATN), the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the European Tracking Network (ETN) and the Acoustic Tracking Array Platform (ATAP) to test the OBIS-Event-Data standard through the development of some data products and science applications. Additionally, this workshop contributes to the further maturation of the GOOS EOV on fish as well as the EOV on birds, mammals and turtles. We will present the outcomes as well as any lessons learned from this workshop on problems, solutions, and applications of using Darwin Core/OBIS-Event-Data for bio-logging data.

This report represents an extended version of the chapter on Invasive Alien Species of the Flemish State of the Environment report 2020.Invasive Alien Species represent a growing threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services in the region.This report describes the current situation of introductions and impact of alien species in Flanders and reviews current policy and management initiatives in prevention, rapid response and management building on a number of case studies.The report describes a number of specific problematic species for the conservation status of different habitat types.Finally, it formulates policy recommendations to better address invasive species in the region.The most important recommendations are:To tailor the European approach to Flanders: the list of invasive alien species of EU concern is not representative for all (potentially) problematic alien species in Flanders.Systematic horizon scanning and the drafting of a list of species of regional concern are recommended for a more proactive policy.Likewise, Flanders could take the initiative to further expand the European list or actively support such initiatives, especially for species for which Flanders has a European responsibility.An increased focus on integrated prioritization: there is a greater need for integrated prioritization, which takes into account, in a quantitative manner, species, introduction routes and specific protected nature that is threatened by species invasions.This way, the available resources can be used more efficiently.This requires additional research, horizon scans and risk analyses. Accelerate the implementation of action plans on introduction pathways.Preventing introductions is paramount when tackling invasive alien species and is the best way to spend public resources.Capacity building and concrete projects in collaboration with crucial sectors are the way to go.Inform and involve the public, stakeholders and government agencies.Targeted communication to the population and to specific target groups can help prevent introductions and spread of invasive alien species.Strong involvement of the public and of all government agencies can improve the prevention and detection of new introductions of invasive alien species and increase support for management actions.Site managers, authorities and associations must be better informed about their role in control.Continue and strengthen enforcement.Inspections are necessary to enforce bans on trade, possession, use and transport of invasive alien species, adherence to positive lists and can prevent invasions.The sale of prohibited species via the internet is a point of attention, as is mislabeling of species in the trade.Develop a functional surveillance system and improve the coordination of management.Rapid detection and early warning are only possible with a properly functioning surveillance system.A more active, scientifically-based and official surveillance system should be set up in Flanders, in which the citizen-scientific and professional surveillance systems for invasive alien species are better attuned and integrated.The response to introductions is too fragmented.More coordination of existing control teams and a clear mandate for the control of established species in all areas are needed for consistent and effective management.

Camera trapping is one of the most important technologies in conservation and ecological research and a well-established, non-invasive method of collecting field data on animal abundance, distribution, behaviour, temporal activity, and space use (Wearn and Glover-Kapfer 2019). Collectively, camera trapping projects are generating a massive and continuous flow of data, consisting of images and videos (with and without animal observations) and associated identifications (Scotson et al. 2017, Kays et al. 2020). In recent years, significant progress has been made by the global camera trapping community to resolve the challenges this brings, from the development of specialized data management tools and analytical packages, to the application of cloud computing and artificial intelligence to automate species recognition (Tabak et al. 2018). However, to effectively exchange camera trap data between infrastructures and to (automatically) harmonize data into large-scale wildlife datasets, there is a need for a common data exchange format—one that captures the essential information about a camera trap study, allows expression of different study and identification approaches, and aligns well with existing biodiversity standards such as Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al. 2012). Here we present Camera Trap Data Package (Camtrap DP), a data exchange format for camera trap data. It is managed by the Machine Observations Interest Group of Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) and developed publicly, soliciting community feedback for every change. Camtrap DP is built on Frictionless Standards, a set of generic specifications to describe and package (tabular) data and metadata. Camtrap DP extends these with specific requirements and constraints for camera trap data. By building on an existing framework, users can employ existing open source software to read and validate Camtrap DP formatted data. Validation especially is useful to automatically check if provided data meets the requirements set forth by Camtrap DP, before analysis or integration. Supported by the major camera trap data management systems e.g. Agouti, TRAPPER, eMammal, and Wildlife Insights, Camtrap DP is reaching its first stable version. The first Camtrap DP dataset was published on Zenodo (Cartuyvels et al. 2021b). This dataset was also published to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (Cartuyvels et al. 2021a), demonstrating the ability and limitations of transforming the data to the Darwin Core standard.

Honeybee Valley (www.honeybeevalley.eu) is een samenwerkingsplatform tussen wetenschappers, imkersverenigingen, overheidsinstanties en landbouworganisaties ingebed in

Invasive species are a global problem for conservation, economics and health. Information on their distribution, spread and impact are essential to inform national and international policy on biodiversity. Furthermore, demand for these data are only likely to increase as recent environmental change results in the widespread reconfiguring of species distributions. Researchers and managers of invasive species require certain elements of data from observations and inventories of species, such as, how the organism was brought to the location, how well established it is and whether it is considered alien to that location. However, Darwin Core either lacks terms sufficient for these purposes or does not have a suitable controlled vocabulary on existing terms to express these concepts clearly and to harmonize data collection. We are proposing a TDWG task group to make recommendations to improve Darwin Core for invasive species research and management. Some of the specific terms we will look are dwc:establishmentMeans and dwc:occurrenceStatus. However, we may also recommend new terms and controlled vocabularies, including how to express the degree of establishment of an organism at a location. We will look at current frameworks for alien species data and analyse how these are used both by invasive species specialists and by the broader community collecting biodiversity observations. We will aim to make a proposal that is sufficiently flexible to be of use to the whole community, while providing sufficient resolution to be of use to specialists in invasion biology.

In recent years, there has been increased attention given to how research assessment is conducted at different levels -research proposals, individual researchers, research organizations. In this context, the current paper explores existing literature regarding current research assessment approaches, and especially recommendations provided through four reference documents on the topic: the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (2013), the Leiden Manifesto The aim is to provide a basis for analysing the legislative and normative framework regulating how researchers are being evaluated in Romania for hiring and career development, and then apply it to identify recommendations regarding how the latter can be improved. Some of the recommendations identified refer to aspects such as: the need to explore evaluation arrangements which incorporate research activity related practices, and that measure performance against research units' research goals; increased focus on qualitative approaches, and on scientific content, as opposed to performance in publication metrics; developing a broader list with indicators, including Open Science and societal relevance related; introducing the principle of transparency; developing a monitoring and evaluation framework.

<h4>Aim</h4> <p>In several ecosystems, the diversity of functional species traits has been shown to have a stronger effect on ecosystem functioning than taxonomic diversity alone. However, few studies have explored this idea at a large geographic scale. In a multi-site experiment, we unravelled the relationship between ecosystem function and functional completeness of species assemblages using dung beetles as a model group, focusing on dung removal and secondary seed dispersal.</p> <h4>Location</h4> <p>17 grassland locations across the Western Palaearctic.</p> <h4>Methods</h4> <p>We used a randomized block design with different exclosure types to control the dung and seed removing activities of individual functional groups of the local dung beetle assemblage. We classified dung beetle species according to resource specialisation and into functional groups based on dung processing behaviour (dwellers, tunnellers, rollers) and body size (small, large). Additionally, we assessed the role of other soil macro-invertebrates. By sampling the dung beetle community and measuring the remaining dung and seeds after the experiment, the impact of each functional group was estimated.</p> <h4>Results</h4> <p>Dung beetle assemblages differed along a north-south and east-west gradient. Dwellers dominated northernmost sites, whereas at lower latitudes we observed more tunnellers and rollers indicating a functional shift. Resource specialists were more abundant in southern and eastern areas. Overall, functional group diversity enhanced dung removal. More dung (+46.9%) and seeds (+32.1%) were removed in the southern sites and tunnellers and rollers were more effective. At the northernmost sites, where tunnellers were scarce or absent, other soil macro-invertebrates removed the majority of dung.</p> <h4>Main conclusions</h4> <p>The conservation of functionally complete dung beetle assemblages is crucial to maintain the ecosystem functions provided by dung beetles. Given the latitudinal variation in functional group diversity, it is reasonable to expect compositional changes due to climate change. These changes could lead to increased dung removal and a higher secondary seed dispersal rate in northern regions.</p>

Material suplementar do artigo "Regra de três: teorias da conspiração sobre Covid-19 no YouTube"

Material suplementar do artigo "Regra de três: teorias da conspiração sobre Covid-19 no YouTube"

This inventory report presents the results of the questionnaire set up to identify the existing 'seabirds at sea' (SAS) programmes collected in the OSPAR and HELCOM areas.For each country and SAS programme, we discuss the specific content and the potential constraints for future integration in the central ESAS database.We can conclude that data quality aspects (language use, update frequency, data format) allow for future migration.Only 8% of the respondents indicated to have financial constraints for sharing data, although one third indicated not to know.The legal aspects to the mobilization are considered to be the largest hindrance: almost half of the respondents indicated to have legal objections for sharing monitoring data.These results were discussed in a joint workshop and led to the conclusion that a joint international effort is essential to work towards a central ESAS database, which will automatically benefit the monitoring and research of seabirds in the North Sea.

Different tools and technologies are available to clean and harmonize data. Independent of the tool used, the ability to assess the quality of a data set and identify potential errors is crucial for harmonization efforts. The necessity becomes even more apparent in the context of data publication, (re)use and aggregation. Documentation and guidelines about the data requirements provide guidance in this process and enable to communicate what to expect from the data, but are mostly intended for humans only. To facilitate the harmonization process, we propose the usage of a specification file, describing the constraints to which the data should comply. Its syntax is human- and machine-readable, so it can be used to communicate expected data quality/conformity and to validate data automatically. The scope of the set of specifications can be specific to a dataset, researcher or research community, which allows bottom-up and top-down adoption. As an example, we apply the specifications to verify data mapped to the biodiversity information standard Darwin Core. In this talk, we will present "whip", a proposed syntax and format to express data specifications. Whip allows to define column-based constraints for tabular (tidy) data with a number of rules. We will also demonstrate a software application (called "pywhip") to validate data sets using these specifications. We hope it will trigger a discussion on how to express data specifications and communicate data quality expectations.

Open science (OS) comprises a set of institutional policies, infrastructure and relationships related to open

Long sessions of computer use introduce physical and mental health risks, particularly for programmers and intensive computer users. Breathing exercises can improve focus, reduce stress, and overall well-being. However, existing tools for such practices are often app-based, requiring users to leave their workspace. In this technical report, we introduce _Nafas_, a command-line interface (CLI) application designed specifically for computer users, enabling them to perform breathing exercises directly within the terminal. _Nafas_ offers structured breathing programs with various levels tailored to the needs of busy developers and other intensive computer users.

This document describes the data management priciples and policies of the Alien CSI COST Action. This action aims to increase public awareness and levels of participation on issues related to invasive alien species and citizen science.

Imagine you are a fish ecologist who compiled a list of fish species for your country. 🐟 Your list could be useful to others, so you publish it as a supplementary file to an article or in a research repository. That is fantastic, but it might be difficult for others to discover your list or combine it with other lists of species.

The ability to communicate and assess the quality and fitness for use of data is crucial to ensure maximum utility and re-use. Data consumers have certain requirements for the data they seek and need to be able to check if a data set conforms with these requirements. Data publishers aim to provide data with the highest possible quality and need to be able to identify potential errors that can be addressed with the available information at hand. The development and adoption of data publication guidelines is one approach to define and meet those requirements. However, the use of a guideline, the mapping decisions, and the requirements a dataset is expected to meet, are generally not communicated with the provided data. Moreover, these guidelines are typically intended for humans only. In this talk, we will present 'whip': a proposed syntax for data specifications. With whip, one can define column-based constraints for tabular (tidy) data using a number of rules, e.g. how data is structured following Darwin Core, how a term uses controlled vocabulary values, or what the expected minimum and maximum values are. These rules are human- and machine-readable, which communicates the specifications, and allows to automatically validate those in pipelines for data publication and quality assessment, such as Kurator. Whip can be formatted as a (yaml) text file that can be provided with the published data, communicating the specifications a dataset is expected to meet. The scope of these specifications can be specific to a dataset, but can also be used to express expected data quality and fitness for use of a publisher, consumer or community, allowing bottom-up and top-down adoption. As such, these specifications are complementary to the core set of data quality tests as currently under development by the TDWG Biodiversity Data Quality Task 2 Group 2. Whip rules are currently generic, but more specific ones can be defined to address requirements for biodiversity information.

A presentation on the TrIAS project to the International Conference on Ecological Informatics 2018, held in Jena, Germany. 24-28 September 2018. Details on the TrIAS project can be found here... Groom, Q. J., Adriaens, T., Desmet, P., Strubbe, D., Backeljau, T., Branquart, E., … Vanderhoeven, S. (2018, September 28). Tracking Invasive Alien Species (TrIAS). https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7DPGR