IBOY Symposium at the 2002 AAAS Annual Meeting and Science Innovation Exposition

Leaders of six IBOY projects will present their latest findings at the symposium Biodiversity Science and Global Research: The International Biodiversity Observation Year, February 15, 2002, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting and Science Innovation, Boston, USA.

Biodiversity loss is the quintessential global problem with local loss of biodiversity having regional and global impacts. Recognition of the interconnections between biodiversity, ecology, and economics at local and global scales represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of the world. This symposium demonstrates how IBOY projects are gathering data from across disciplines and scales to advance knowledge and conservation of biodiversity.

Dr. Richard Mack will report the latest findings on the rate of spread, geographic extent and impact of alien plants, part of the project Impact of Biological Invasions. Dr. Walter Reid will describe the initial progress and findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a four-year, international scientific assessment of the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the response options for addressing undesired change. Dr. Oliver Ryder will examine the role of DNA research in biodiversity monitoring, assessment and conservation, and report the progress of a global initiative to develop DNA Banks for Endangered Species. Dr. David Wake will report on AmphibiaWeb, a web-based informatics system aiming to provide accurate information on the conservation status of every amphibian species. Dr. Diana Wall will report the preliminary findings of the first world-wide, multi-network collaborative experiment to assess patterns of litter biodiversity across biomes and the latitudinal gradient, the Global Litter Invertebrate Decomposition Experiment (GLIDE). Dr. Thomas Lovejoy will describe the development of the Amazonia GIS System, an integrative information source on the environment and development in the Amazon basin. Together, the presentations provide an overview of diverse efforts that are bringing add-on value to local-scale data, by compiling it to develop urgently needed information on large-scale biodiversity patterns and trends, and innovative approaches to biodiversity conservation.

The latest information from another IBOY Core Network Project, the Ocean Biogeographical Information System (OBIS) will be presented by Dr. J. Frederick Grassle at a separate symposium at the AAAS Annual meeting, The Census of Marine Life: Challenges in Biodiversity, on February 17, 2002.

More information:

• IBOY Symposium

• AAAS Annual Meeting 2002