BIOTA AFRICA has been jointly invented by African and German researchers aiming at the establishment of research supporting sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in Africa. While, initially, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) was open to fund the initiative, meanwhile several African countries and partner institutions added funding. The project, from its beginning, had a very visible continent-wide dimension and is still expanding especially with regard to its role as a "Biodiversity Observation Network" on the African continent. ... [Information of the supplier]
The German network for long term ecological research is intended to be a platform for communication, documentation and collaboration of scientists in long-term, system-oriented and interdisciplinary environmental research in Germany. LTER-D is a member in the international umbrella organisation of LTER (ILTER, www.ilternet.edu). It is an open network, which defines itself exclusively by the commitment of the members to their shared goals. Long-term approaches are particularly important in investigations of environmental changes, because such changes usually occur only gradually and with larger temporal fluctuations overlying the trend. Under such circumstances, only an adequately long observation period can be a sound basis to secure results and to support prognoses. The German LTER is still in the starting phase. The first workshop for mutual information and orientation was held in Duderstadt, central Germany, 24-26 March 2004. At this meeting, scientists from the institutions in Germany, which perform long-term ecological research in all relevant ecosystem types from the high mountains to the Wadden Sea, presented their concepts and results. The diversity, quality and potential of German LTER showed up clearly, and in future it will be further augmented by integrating LTER-D into the global ILTER-process. ... [Information of the supplier]
The Census of Marine Life is a growing global network of researchers in more than 70 nations engaged in a ten-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life in the oceans -- past, present, and future. This site is a portal for the Census of Marine Life. The site is designed to provide quick and easy access to all elements of the Census and basic information about each element for the interested public. It is also a central location for news and information about the Census. ... [Information of the supplier]
In the framework of an initiative to advance biodiversity research in Germany, we will establish three exemplary large-scale and long-term research sites (funded by the German Research Foundation). They are termed Biodiversity Exploratories, in contrast to mainly descriptive observatories. The exploratories will establish and sustain the scientific infrastructure and develop the intellectual framework needed to address critical questions about changes in biodiversity and to evaluate the impacts of those changes for ecosystem processes. Thus, in the exploratories biodiversity and ecosystem research will be merged at a large scale and with a long-term perspective. In this first phase the exploratories will address the relationship between land-use intensity, biodiversity change, and ecosystem functioning for selected taxa. After establishment, these exploratories will also integrate further contributing projects proposed by the German research community. Thus, the biodiversity exploratories will serve as a stimulating research platform for the whole German biodiversity research community. ... [Information of the supplier]
GENRES supports the implementation of the BMELV concept for the conservation and sustainable utilization of genetic resources for food, agriculture and forestry as well as the execution of The National Programmes for Plant, Animal, Forest an Aquatic Genetic Resources. On this basis, GENRES is moving into the direction of a monitoring instrument for these programmes. GENRES serves as the German Clearing House Mechanism (CHM) for genetic resources in food, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). GENRES provides an overview of relevant documents, facts, projects and other measures for the conservation and sustainable utilization of genetic resources for food, agriculture and forestry in Germany, Europe and international. ... [Information of the supplier]