Natural history collection management & digitisation software: GBIF Survey

The GBIF Secretariat has published the results of a survey of "collections management and digitisation software." The software solutions that are currently being used by the world's Natural History Collections to capture, organize and manage specimen-based data are reviewed in this report. The focus of the survey was software that is both available commercially or free of charge and has some degree of user support.

Survey documents: http://circa.gbif.net/Public/irc/gbif/digit/library

Source: www.gbif.org

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

Speciesbanks: Internet Biodiversity Portals

Some compiled lists of Speciesbanks that might be of interest to you to review:

GBIF MS-Access format: http://circa.gbif.net/Members/irc/gbif/pr/library?l=/speciesbank_workshop/speciesbank_mdb/_EN_1.0_&a=i

GBIF MS-Excel format: http://circa.gbif.net/Members/irc/gbif/pr/library?l=/speciesbank_workshop/speciesbanks_inventory/_EN_1.0_&a=i

ENBI .PDF format:http://circa.gbif.net/irc/DownLoad/kleXATJ_mqG9rf7bEk-Z8I0SpTfpMEfv/pj3yRhOIKZOH3t3p5LvMFh/ENBI_wp5_D5.4_ver1_%28editCH%29.pdf

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

Ocean remote sensing: a tool for ocean science and operational oceanography workshop

COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop on Satellite Oceanography


The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) invites young African researchers to join leading experts in remote sensing and ocean modelling at the "Centre Royal de Teledetection Spatiale" (Rabat, Morocco) for lectures, hands-on computing practicals and poster sessions on the occasion of the regional COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop on "Ocean remote sensing: a tool for ocean science and operational oceanography" (19-30 September 2005, CRTS, Rabat).

Programme Information: http://cobrawo.mediasfrance.org

Registration guidelines: http://cobrawo.mediasfrance.org/guidelines.pdf

Contact point: cobrawo@yahoo.fr

Deadline for application: Tue 31th March 2005

Source: Coastal Zone mailing list

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

GBIF Workshop on Biodiversity Data Modelling

GBIF, in close collaboration with CONABIO (Mexico) and the University of Kansas Biodiversity Research Center (KU), is organizing a hands-on biodiversity data modelling workshop in Mexico City from 4-8 April 2005. Deadline for applications is 17 January 2005.

Date: Monday 2005/04/04 09:00 to 2005/04/08 17:00
Type: Meeting
Venue: UNAM, Mexico City
Organiser: GBIF, CONABIO, KU

Workshop webpage: http://www.gbif.org/Events/BDMWkshp

Although the deadline is due, I will encourage those interested to contact GBIF workshop organization and apply!

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

Satellite Remote Sensing in Biological Oceanography Summer Training Course 2005

This 2-week summer training course is geared toward biological oceanographers and marine biologists who have little or no prior background in satellite remote sensing. The goal of the training course is to teach participants the skills needed to work independently to acquire data sets derived from a variety of satellite sensors (SeaWiFS, MODIS, AVHRR, SeaWinds and Topex-Poseidon) and to merge these data sets to examine biological response to changes in the physical environment. The training course is open to advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and post-graduate professionals.

Background lectures will cover the fundamentals of bio-optics, pigment algorithms, primary production algorithms and, to a lesser extent, the underlying physical principals leading to the measurement of sea surface temperature, ocean wind speed and ocean topography. See the course syllabus for more details on the topics covered in this course.

Dates: June 3-17, 2005
Application deadline: May 1, 2005
Course fee: 2385 USD (+ travel + housing + meals)

Course webpage: http://www.eas.cornell.edu/ocean/rs_course/

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

GBIF SpeciesBanks Workshop

Co-sponsored by GBIF, NLBIF, ETI and the University of Amsterdam, this will be a workshop on shaping the future: What are speciesbanks and what should they become? What are the best pathways for developing them? This workshop, which will be held in Amsterdam from 2 through 4 March 2005. Registration has closed. Additional participants will be by special invitation only.

Registrants who have been selected to attend will represent three groups of people:

Online Users - What do people who search for species information on the Web want as a result of their queries? How do they want that information presented? How do they want to be able to ask their questions?
Information Providers - What amount of information must be available before it can be said to constitute a SpeciesBank? That is, must each species of nematode have had as much research done on its taxonomy, physiology, chemistry and behavior (and all of that research data be available on the Internet) as have the species of primates? Or, can an information-retrieval portal be built such that all the available data, whether a great deal or only a name, can be retrieved for any species the user wishes to ask about?
Informatics Technologists - What standards for data and metadata are going to be needed to be able to search for data about species among databases of taxonomy, physiology, ecology, molecular genetics, etc. etc. etc.? What software and protocols already exist that can be adapted to this purpose? What is the role of web services technologies? How can different interfaces for various user groups access the common pool of data?

Workshop webpage: http://www.gbif.org/Stories/STORY1103024362 and

Although the workshop registration is closed I decided to post the information since I will attend the event and latter report on workshop results. I will participate on the user and IT sessions.

For info on GBIF events, you should review frequently: http://www.gbif.org

Regards,

Jorge Brenner

ICES 2005 Conference

The 2005 Annual Science Conference will be held in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. Conference VenueThe conference will be held in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) which is a recently modernised purpose-built facility located on the coast about three km north of the city centre. Conference DatesMain Annual Science Conference dates 20–24 September 2005Pre Conference dates (Business meetings) 18–27 September 2005.

Abstract Submission Deadline: Monday 25 April 2005

Conference webpage: http://www.ices.dk/iceswork/asc/2005/deadlines.asp

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

Oceanographic data management online courses

The objective of Ocean Teacher is to provide training tools for Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange. These tools are used during IODE Training Courses but can also be used for self training and continuous professional development.

Courses:

1. Ocean data management

2. Marine information management

Couses webpage: http://oceanteacher.org

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

Ocean Science Open E-Journal

Ocean Science (OS) is a new international and free to web scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles, short communications and review papers on all aspects of ocean science, experimental, theoretical and laboratory. The primary objective is to publish a very high quality scientific journal with free web based access for researchers and other interested people throughout the world. Electronic submission of articles is used to keep publication costs to a minimum. The costs will be covered by a small page charge paid by the authors but this will be waived during the first two years of publication. The refereeing process also makes use of the web. It includes an eight week on-line discussion period with the original submitted paper, all comments and, if accepted, the final paper, published on-line. For libraries, hard copy volumes containing the final papers will be available at minimum cost.

Ocean Science covers the following fields:
Ocean Physics (i.e. ocean structure, circulation, tides and internal waves)
Ocean Chemistry
Biological Oceanography
Air-Sea Interactions
Ocean Models, physical, chemical and biological and biochemical
Coastal and shelf edge processes
Paleooceanography

Ocean Science (OS) and Ocean Science Discussions (OSD) are published by Copernicus GmbH on behalf of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

Journal Webpage: http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/os/

Ihope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

EU training felloships on: DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF ANIMAL FORM

9 EARLY STAGE STUDENTSHIPS (PHD OR SHORT-TERM TRAINING) AND 8 EXPERIENCED RESEARCHER FELLOWSHIPS (POSTDOCTORAL) ARE AVAILABLE IN THE MARIE CURIE RESEARCH TRAINING NETWORK "ZOONET":
DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF ANIMAL FORM: TRAINING MODERN COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGISTS.
ZOONET brings together 9 leading European research groups from 5 European countries for a co-ordinated, multidisciplinary study of the evolution of animal diversity and form.
The training network will recruit 9 early stage researchers with 0-4 years experience (minimum B.Sc. or equivalent) and 8 experienced researchers with 4-10 years of experience (postdocs) for long-term studentships/fellowships for 2-3 years. Applications for short-term training visits, between 3-12 months, will also be considered.
The training and research will consist of a diversity of approaches aimed at increasing our understanding of the evolutionary patterns and processes that have resulted in the enormous diversity of animal forms living today. The recruited fellows will benefit from training in relevant aspects of diverse research fields including comparative embryology, molecular systematics, palaeontology, molecular biology and bioinformatics.
ZOONET is funded by the European Unions 6th Framework Programme for four years from 1 Jan 2005. Applicants should not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of the host institution for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the start date.
For details of all available appointments please see www.zoonet.eu.com
To apply please send your CV, a brief letter of intent explaining your motivations and project interests and the contact details of 2 academic referees to the team leader at your preferred host institution.

Team leaders:
Max Telford. University College London, UK. m.telford@ucl.ac.uk
Michael Akam. Cambridge, UK. akam@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk

Source: Marinet

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

Biodiversity Informatics Open E-Journal

Biodiversity Informatics is a peer-reviewed journal that covers the emerging field of biodiversity informatics. BI welcomes papers regarding aspects of the creation, management, analysis, interpretation, and understanding of information regarding biodiversity. BI will be published continuously, with papers appearing as they are ready throughout the year.

Journal URL: http://jbi.nhm.ku.edu/index.php (about + author guidelines + full text articles)

I hope this is of your interest. Regards.

Jorge Brenner

CatMDEdit: Metadata Manager

CatMDEdit is an application for the creation and edition of geographic metadata in confomance with "ISO19115. Geographic Information - Metadata" standard. Main features: Tool developed as an OpenSource Project. The project site is accessible through http://catmdedit.sourceforge.net/. Multiplattform (Windows, Unix) Multilingual (spanish and english at present) Two edition interfaces: A detailed interface following the ISO19115 standard.
And a reduced interface following the "Núcleo Español de Metadatos - NEM" (core metadata). NEM, a subset of ISO19115, is a recommendation under development which has been defined by the Spanish National Geographical High Board ("Consejo Superior Geográfico"). This subset includes all the elements defined for the ISO19115 Core metadata profile (?Core metadata for geographic datasets?). Interoperability with other metadata standards (CSDGM of FGDC, Dublin Core,MIGRA) Import/Export utilities through Excel files. Use of thesauri to facilate edition of keywords.

Download through the OpenSource project site at http://sourceforge.net/projects/catmdedit

Source: IDEE (http://www.idee.es)

I hope this is of your interest. Regards.

Jorge Brenner

THIRD ENBI E-CONFERENCE: Improving European participation in GBIF

The European Network for Biodiversity Information (ENBI), invites you to take part in the third electronic conference: Improving European participation in GBIF which will run from 14th - 28nd February 2005. The issue of the convenience (or not) of a European node has surfaced several times in the recent discussions and meetings. The option of having an European GBIF node is perceived by some current national node managers as an unnecessary "middle-man" between the national nodes and GBIF at the international level (GB, SC, secretariat). The practical aim of this third e-conference is to produce a document to explore ways to improve the participation of Europe. In this regards, participants from all areas involved (scientists, natural history collection administrators, conservation community, decision-makers) are welcome to contribute. Conference organization: Real Jardín Botánico and Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain.

Forum URL: http://www.enbi.info/forums/ec3/index.php

Source: ENBI

I hope this is of your interest. Regards.

Jorge Brenner

2004 Global Temperature Anomalies

From its outset, the 2004 meteorological year was a hot one, according to new results from scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Average global surface temperatures in both December 2003 (the first month of the 2004 meteorological year) and February 2004 were 0.66 degrees Celsius above the long-term average (1951-1980). Overall, 2004 temperatures were 0.48 degrees Celsius above the climatological average. The high temperatures of 2004 make it the fourth hottest year since the late 1800s, the time that most scientists recognize as the start of accurate meteorological record keeping.

2004 map and more information on: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16815

For more imagery and information about trends in Earth's surface temperatures, visit Global Temperature Trends: 2004 Summation at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Source: Earth Observatory - NASA

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

New book on GIS/spatial analyses in fisheries and aquatic sciences

The Fishery-Aquatic GIS Research Group in Japan recently published a 700-page book on GIS and spatial analysis in marine and freshwater systems. This book is an excellent resource for students interested in using these tools in their research: Nishida, T., Kailola, P.J., and Hollinworth, C.E. (Editors). 2004. GIS/Spatial Analyses in Fishery and Aquatic Sciences (Vol. 2). Fishery-Aquatic GIS Research Group, Saitama, Japan. 735pp. (ISBN: 4-9902377-0-6) For more information see the following web site: http://www.esl.co.jp/Sympo/2nd/pdf/publication%20details.pdf

More info:

Christian E. Torgersen, Landscape Ecologist USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center 3200 SW Jefferson Way Corvallis, OR 97331 USA Phone: 541-758-7797 Fax: 541-758-8806 ctorgersen@usgs.gov

Source: SEA-GIS

I hope this is of your interest. Regards.

Jorge Brenner

2005 ICES ANNUAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE

Contributions for (papers or posters) presentation at the 2005 ICES Annual
Science Conference, to be held in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, from 20-24
September 2005, are invited. These should be submitted initially as an
informative abstract (no more than 200 words), to the ICES Secretariat in
Copenhagen (e-mail address: abstract@ices.dk). The deadline for submission
of abstracts is Monday 25 April 2005.
The Call for Papers/Posters announcing the 2005 ICES Annual Science
Conference is available on the ICES Website www.ices.dk/asc/2005.

Source: Marinet

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

International Training Course On COASTAL EROSION MANAGEMENT

September, 5-9, 2005Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal* Course WEBSITE *Please visit the training course website athttp://www.fe.up.pt/~fpinto/Erosion <http://www.fe.up.pt/~fpinto/Erosion> .The Hydraulics and Water Resources Institute and the EUCC MediterraneanOffice are organizing a Training Course on "Coastal Erosion Management"which will be held September, 5-9, 2005 at the Faculty of Engineering of theUniversity of Porto, Porto - Portugal. The Course aims at providingpractical, scientifically sound training to those who have the task offinding solutions to coastal erosion related problems while working e.g. forcoastal municipalities, planning institutes, or consulting companies.Course material will make best use of the latest results of the<http://www.eurosion.org/> EUrosion study commissioned by the GeneralDirectorate Environment of the European Commission, which has resulted inpolicy recommendations on how to manage coastal erosion in Europe in themost sustainable way. The course will also benefit from the inputs ofleading European Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) initiatives,namely <http://www.coastalpractice.net/> CoPraNet and<http://www.coastlearn.org/> CoastLearn as coastal erosion is best managedapplying the ICZM approach.

Source: MARINET Listserv

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner

CoastGIS'05 abstract deadline has been extended!

GIS Aids Tsunami Relief Efforts. The recent earthquake off the coast of Indonesia and the subsequent tsunami that wreaked devastation on nine countries has tested remote sensing systems and GIS mapping data technologies like no previous event in history.(Cadalyst GIS, 2004). The CoastGIS 2005 Symposium therefore seeks to stimulate an environment in which greater knowledge, understanding, and an appreciation of spatial data and spatial data infrastructures for coastal and marine management can be developed.

In order to ensure that CoastGIS 2005 includes papers on this relevant and topical area, the abstract deadline has been extended until Friday 25 February 2005.

Source: CoastGIS'05

I hope this is of your interest. Regards,

Jorge Brenner