Suchergebnisse

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Based on almost 80,000 records for Ireland, 150 native species of non-marine mollusc are evaluated for their conservation status using International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria (IUCN, 2001, 2003). Two are considered to be regionally extinct, five critically endangered, fourteen endangered, twenty-six vulnerable, six near threatened, and the rest of least concern, or data deficient. Ireland?s non-marine molluscan fauna is of international importance. Ten species have populations of significant international worth, having large proportions of their global population in Ireland. Ashfordia granulata and Leisotyla anglica are two examples of such species; both are near endemics to Britain and Ireland, with Ireland having at least a fifth of their global populations. Seven species have been listed on the global IUCN red list, for example Myxas glutinosa and Quickella arenaria, both of which are endangered species in Ireland. Six species are legally protected under European legislation. Of these legally protected species, only the Kerry slug, Geomalacus maculosus, is not considered threatened in Ireland. However, the Irish population of this species is of particular international importance as the species is restricted to south-west Ireland and northern Iberia, and the Iberian populations are severely threatened. Some species are rare in Ireland as they are at the edge of their range or climatic tolerances (e.g. Pomatias elegans). For species that are declining in Ireland there are multiple drivers of population loss. Species declines are primarily driven by habitat loss (e.g. loss of marginal agricultural wetlands through drainage impacting species such as Vertigo antivertigo), habitat change (e.g. reduced water quality impacting species such as Pisidium pseudosphaerium and Margaritifera margaritifera) and habitat management (e.g. woodland management practices impacting species such as Spermodea lamellata). To a lesser extent species may be declining due to climate change (e.g. Pisidium conventus, a cold, deep water, montane species) and the impact of invasive species (Anodonta cygnea and A. anatina, the swan and duck mussels, are being severely impacted by the invasive species Dreissena polymorpha, the zebra mussel). The importance of water quality and the reduction of habitat loss and change across a spectrum of habitats are identified as important components in conserving the non-marine molluscan fauna on the island of Ireland.

There are a multitude of biodiversity informatics projects, datasets, databases and initiatives at the global level, and many more at regional, national, and sometimes local levels. In such a complex landscape, it can be unclear how different elements relate to each other. Based on a high-level review of global and European-level elements, we present a map of the biodiversity informatics landscape. This is a first attempt at identifying key datasets/databases and data services, and mapping them in a way that can be used to identify the links, gaps and redundancies in the landscape. While the map is predominantly focused on elements with a global scope, the sub-global focus at the European-level was incorporated in the map in order to demonstrate how a regional network such as the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) can usefully contribute to connecting some of the nodes within the landscape. We identify 74 elements, and find that the informatics landscape is complex in terms of the characteristics and diversity of these elements, and that there is high variability in their level of connectedness. Overall, the landscape is highly connected, with one element boasting 28 connections. The average "degrees of separation" between elements is low, and the landscape is deemed relatively robust to failures since there is no single point that information flows through. Examples of possible effort duplication are presented, and the inclusion of five policy-level elements in the map helps illustrate how informatics products can contribute to global processes that define and direct political targets. Beyond simply describing the existing landscape, this map will support a better understanding of the landscape's current structure and functioning, enabling responsible institutions to establish or strengthen collaborations, work towards avoiding effort duplication, and facilitate access to the biodiversity data, information and knowledge required to support effective decision-making, in the context of comparatively limited funding for biodiversity knowledge and conservation. To support this, we provide the input matrix and code that created this map as supplementary materials, so that readers can more closely examine the links in the landscape, and edit the map to suit their own purposes. ; published version ; peerReviewed

The Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the United Nations' Strategic Plan for Biodiversity set ambitious goals for protecting biodiversity from further decline. Increased efforts are urgently needed to achieve these targets by 2020. The availability of comprehensive, sound and up-to-date biodiversity data is a key requirement to implement policies, strategies and actions to address biodiversity loss, monitor progress towards biodiversity targets, as well as to assess the current status and future trends of biodiversity. Key gaps, however, remain in our knowledge of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. These are mostly a result of barriers preventing existing data from being discoverable, accessible and digestible. In this paper, we describe what regional Biodiversity Observation Networks (BONs) can do to address these barriers using the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) as an example. We conclude that there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in how biodiversity data are collected, stored, shared and streamlined in order to tackle the many sustainable development challenges ahead. We need a shift towards an integrative biodiversity information framework, starting from collection to the final interpretation and packaging of data. This is a major objective of the EU BON project, towards which progress is being made.

There are a multitude of biodiversity informatics projects, datasets, databases and initiatives at the global level, and many more at regional, national, and sometimes local levels. In such a complex landscape, it can be unclear how different elements relate to each other. Based on a high-level review of global and European-level elements, we present a map of the biodiversity informatics landscape. This is a first attempt at identifying key datasets/databases and data services, and mapping them in a way that can be used to identify the links, gaps and redundancies in the landscape. While the map is predominantly focused on elements with a global scope, the sub-global focus at the European-level was incorporated in the map in order to demonstrate how a regional network such as the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) can usefully contribute to connecting some of the nodes within the landscape. We identify 74 elements, and find that the informatics landscape is complex in terms of the characteristics and diversity of these elements, and that there is high variability in their level of connectedness. Overall, the landscape is highly connected, with one element boasting 28 connections. The average "degrees of separation" between elements is low, and the landscape is deemed relatively robust to failures since there is no single point that information flows through. Examples of possible effort duplication are presented, and the inclusion of five policy-level elements in the map helps illustrate how informatics products can contribute to global processes that define and direct political targets. Beyond simply describing the existing landscape, this map will support a better understanding of the landscape's current structure and functioning, enabling responsible institutions to establish or strengthen collaborations, work towards avoiding effort duplication, and facilitate access to the biodiversity data, information and knowledge required to support effective decision-making, in the context of comparatively limited funding for biodiversity knowledge and conservation. To support this, we provide the input matrix and code that created this map as supplementary materials, so that readers can more closely examine the links in the landscape, and edit the map to suit their own purposes.