LifeWatch support in 2015-2016 made it possible to make WoRMS more complete

In 2015-2016, LifeWatch funded several activities directly leading to the improvement and further completion of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). LifeWatch has invested in data grants, meetings and workshops, leading to the addition of thousands of new names to WoRMS, a revision of (tens of) thousands already available names, and the development of new portals and tools, helping the user and editor community in accessing and utilizing WoRMS.

LifeWatch Summer Students 2016

During July and August 2016, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) employed several summer students, of which 11 were assigned to the Flemish LifeWatch infrastructure.

WoRCS Project Report published in the open access journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO)

The report of the first Editor Workshop of the WoRCS initiative (22-25 February 2016, Oostende, Belgium), co-authored by the WoRCS Editor Group and the WoRMS Data Management Team, was published today in the open access journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO).

The LifeWatch Gulls and Harriers: who are they, what do they do, and where are they going?

The bird GPS data from June 2013 to August 2016 reveals a lot of peculiar foraging behavior and interesting migration patterns. This is now disclosed in a renewed webpage.

New in the Belgian LifeWatch Marine Observatory: Cetacean Passive Acoustic Network

Recently, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) started with the construction of a permanent Cetacean Passive Acoustic Network in the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS), as part of the Belgian LifeWatch Marine Observatory, to record the presence of harbour porpoises and dolphins.

New: water tanks for marine organisms at the Marine Station Ostend

The Flanders Marine Institute puts at the disposal of marine researchers a cold store with three large sea water tanks for tests with marine organisms.

IRMNG transfer to VLIZ now complete, 2016 release now available

The Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG) now hosted at VLIZ, plus new data available in 2016 release

Call for applications - LifeWatch funding available to organize editor workshops

Through LifeWatch, The Flanders Marine Institute – host of the WoRMS database – has a budget available to financially support editors to address a number of priority gaps within WoRMS. This can be done through the organization of an editor-workshop.

A DOI for WoRMS

The WoRMS Steering Committee decided that the WoRMS database should receive a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), identical to the DOIs that get assigned to scientific publications.

Fourth EMODnet Biology Workshop

On June 17th, 17 experts met in Oostende to further develop a framework for the description, collation and dissemination of traits information relating to marine species.