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The Big Seashell Survey shows remarkable differences between Belgium and the Netherlands

Added on: 2022-03-24 16:07:19 by Tavernier, Annelies
Saturday 19 March 2022, about 750 citizens collected more than 38.000 shells on Belgian beaches, with a top-5 in line with the results of the 2021 edition. For the first time, the Netherlands joined this citizen science initiative and collected another 22.000 shells, showing remarkable differences between both countries. ...

WoRMS press release: Ten remarkable new marine species from 2021

Added on: 2022-03-18 11:44:44 by Dekeyzer, Stefanie
As for previous years, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) has again released its annual list of the top-ten marine species described by researchers during the past year to coincide with World Taxonomist Appreciation Day on March 19th! ...

WoRMS partners with International Seabed Authority for enhanced deep-sea taxonomic info & standardization in the Area

Added on: 2022-03-10 09:01:15 by Vandepitte, Leen
On 1 March 2022, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) formalized their partnership to strengthen their mutual efforts on advancing deep-sea taxonomic information and standardization in the Area. ...

International Women’s Day 2022: Marie-Anne Libert

Added on: 2022-03-08 15:38:51 by Tavernier, Annelies
For International Women’s Day 2022, LifeWatch ERIC are putting eight scientists in the spotlight. Each of the LifeWatch ERIC member states has proposed a figure who has broken boundaries over the course of her lifetime, and is an inspiration to younger generations looking to pursue a career in STEM. Meet the person chosen by LifeWatch Belgium: Marie-Anne Libert. ...

The acoustic character of an underwater habitat

Added on: 2022-03-01 14:30:17 by Tavernier, Annelies
Just as the doctor listens to the condition of your lungs with his stethoscope, imagine that you can tell how healthy or unhealthy the sea is from the underwater sound. That is what LifeWatch VLIZ engineer Clea Parcerisas wants to find out with her doctoral research on underwater soundscapes. ...

Join the 5th edition of the Big Seashell Survey at the Belgian beaches!

Added on: 2022-01-27 14:32:12 by Tavernier, Annelies
Who is not fascinated by shells on the beach? Picking up shells, admiring them and trying to find out the story behind the find. And if at all possible, to give science a helping hand at the same time. That is what the Big Seashell Survey is all about! ...

What is the difference in the soundscape of the Gulf of Tribugá in Colombia and the Belgian Part of the North Sea?

Added on: 2022-01-27 10:59:34 by Tavernier, Annelies
A new LifeWatch paper compares two different soundscapes: the Gulf of Tribugá in Colombia and the the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS). This study is of great importance as a general marine soundscape baseline in order to map possible future disturbances of port construction or to evaluate whether policy measures taken are effective. The comparison shows that biophony dominates the Gulf ot Tribugá while anthropophony is dominant in the BPNS. ...

RBINS and RMCA recruit: Scientific Collaborator (m/f/x) for the BopCo project

Added on: 2022-01-24 10:53:19 by Tavernier, Annelies
The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the Royal Museum for Central Africa are looking for a Scientific Collaborator to join its LifeWatch BopCo project. ...

Mapping the eel migration routes

Added on: 2022-01-11 09:50:32 by Tavernier, Annelies
With the use of 96 data loggers, scientists of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Ghent University and the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) succeeded to map the migration routes of eels in the North Sea. The results show that the majority of the Belgian eels migrate through the English Channel, the narrow sea passage between England and France. Although this seems a logical thing to do, some choose to migrate over Scotland. The reason for these different choices is still under study. The eels are probably guided by certain sea currents. ...

Formally introducing: the World Register of Introduced Marine Species (WRiMS)

Added on: 2021-12-14 15:19:20 by Dekeyzer, Stefanie
In a publication hot off the press, the WRiMS editors and the WoRMS Data Management Team discuss the data sources and history, the data validation, the database structure and software, the data management and the future needs of WRiMS. ...

Call for nominations for the WoRMS Top-Ten Marine Species of 2021

Added on: 2021-12-13 12:30:14 by Dekeyzer, Stefanie
Once again taxonomists have continued to publish many wonderful new species throughout the last year, despite all the challenges post by a global pandemic situation. So as we approach the end of 2021 it is time to think about nominations for The WoRMS Top Ten Marine Species of 2021! ...

LifeWatch citizen scientists trained in ‘identification of fish from beach waters’

Added on: 2021-12-07 16:32:15 by Tavernier, Annelies
In November, the enthusiastic citizen scientists of the SeaWatch-B beach observation network were offered another opportunity for in-depth training. This time, the focus was on identifying small fish in the beach waters. Recently Seawatch-B is included as a citizen science project within LifeWatch VLIZ. ...

Catalogue of Life: 20 years of documenting life on Earth

Added on: 2021-11-08 09:30:12 by Tavernier, Annelies
This year, 2021, marks CoL's 20th anniversary and it is a time to celebrate! Milestones include reaching over 2 million accepted species and the completion of the new Catalogue of Life infrastructure. ...

European Tracking Network for fish has reached over 500 million detections

Added on: 2021-10-27 11:39:42 by Tavernier, Annelies
In recent years, fish tracking technology has revolutionized our knowledge on fish migration and behaviour. Today, the European Tracking Network (ETN) integrates the European efforts of hundreds of users, dealing with thousands of tagged fish from a multitude of species. Within this LifeWatch initiative, 500 million detections so far have taught us a lot on fish species such as Atlantic bluefin tuna, European seabass and sturgeon. ...

WoRMS endorsed as a Project Action under the Ocean Decade

Added on: 2021-10-20 10:26:56 by Vandepitte, Leen
Last week, WoRMS received endorsement by the Ocean Decade as a Project Action, entitled “Above and Beyond – Completing the World Register of Marine Species (ABC WoRMS)”. ...

New versions of the Bio-Oracle dataset v2.2 and the R package sdmpredictors v2.10.0 are available

Added on: 2021-10-04 15:58:47 by Tavernier, Annelies
Bio-Oracle provides environmental data of the world ocean for present and future climate change scenarios. These data are mainly used by Lifewatch users to link biodiversity occurrence data to environmental conditions and predict the future distribution of marine species. Recently, this dataset is improved and offers better quality for the end users. ...

First Detections of Culiseta longiareolata (Diptera: Culicidae) in Belgium and the Netherlands

Added on: 2021-09-03 14:19:31 by Tavernier, Annelies
Between 2017 and 2020, larvae, pupae, and adults of Culiseta longiareolata were found at distinct locations in Belgium and the Netherlands. A potential vector of bird pathogens. ...

Porifera editors participated in the very first online organised WoRMS-LifeWatch editor workshop

Added on: 2021-08-04 18:12:19 by Vandepitte, Leen
In the week of June 7th 2021, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) – host of Aphia, the online platform behind WoRMS and its many sub-registered – organized the very first online editor workshop, in which 13 Porifera-editors enthusiastically participated. ...

Coordinating the observation of biodiversity in the sea: a new collaboration

Added on: 2021-07-12 09:31:20 by Tavernier, Annelies
The Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), and the SCAR Antarctic Biodiversity Portal share a common vision on the building and coordination of a global ocean biodiversity observation system. The common goal is to systematically assess the state and trends in the ocean’s biodiversity, including biological resources and ecosystems, and how these will change in the future. ...

PhD research reveals wild boar behaviour

Added on: 2021-07-08 14:35:08 by Tavernier, Annelies
Jolien Wevers successfully defended her PhD research on wild boar and roe deer ecology in a human-dominated landscape at Hasselt University. ...

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