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Neobiota 2008 - conference announcement
by Marten Winter 11 Dec '07

11 Dec '07

Dear colleagues, Institute of Botany, Průhonice & Faculty of Science, Charles University Prague are hosting the 5th European Conference on Biological Invasions NEOBIOTA. The organizing committee is pleased to invite all those who are interested in invasive plants and animals, to register and submit an abstract for either an oral or poster presentation at the conference homepage www.ibot.cas.cz/neobiota, where you will find more detailed information about the conference venue, topics accommodation, etc. The conference will take place on 23.-26 September 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic, starting with an invited evening keynote lecture presented by Marcel Rejmánek from the University of California, Davis, USA. The registration is now opened. Please note that the deadline for registration and submission of abstracts is 30 April 2008. Everyone interested in Biological Invasions is invited to participate and share thoughts, opinions and new results. All professions (ecologists, conservation agencies, and stake-holders), all organisms (plants, animals, pathogens, fungi) and ecosystems (marine, freshwater, and terrestrial) will be considered. For sharing the information with your colleagues interested in biological invasions, you may want to use the attached conference flyer. If you have any questions, please, please do not hesitate to contact us. Looking forward to see you next year in Prague Petr Pysek and Vojtech Jarosik (on behalf of the organizing committee)

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[Fwd: [Aliens-L] invitation to conference on biological invasions in Europe and DAISIE, 23 January 2008]
by Marten Winter 04 Dec '07

04 Dec '07

...may be of interest for some of you... -------- Original-Nachricht -------- Betreff: [Aliens-L] invitation to conference on biological invasions in Europe and DAISIE, 23 January 2008 Datum: Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:06:08 +0100 Von: Melanie Josefsson <melanie.josefsson(a)snv.slu.se> Antwort an: aliens-l(a)indaba.iucn.org An: aliens-l(a)indaba.iucn.org Biological invasions in Europe and the DAISIE initiative - current threats and future perspectives *23 January 2008, Portoroz, Slovenia* Biological invasions by non-native or "alien" species are widely recognized as a significant component of human-caused global environment change. Alien species encompass many diverse taxa that threaten a wide range of European environments and have serious environmental, economic and health impacts. The DAISIE (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe) portal has now brought together information on alien species and their impacts, and for the first time has developed an overview and assessment of biological invasions in the Pan-European region. Purpose of the conference: This conference will bring together decision-makers, environmental managers and researchers within the field of biological invasions and other interested parties to present and discuss the current situation with biological invasions by invasive alien species, their impacts and future perspectives for managing the risks. *Time* Wednesday, January 23, 2008, 9.00 a.m. - 17.30. *Place* Portoroz, Slovenia * *For more information please visit the DAISIE home page at www.europe-aliens.org <http://www.europe-aliens.org/>** * * *Register at the latest by January 16, 2008* Melanie Josefsson Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Melanie.Josefsson(a)snv.slu.se <mailto:Melanie.Josefsson@snv.slu.se> Telephone + 46 18 67 31 48 Telefax + 46 18 67 31 56 -- *Marten Winter* ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ Department of Community Ecology Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ Sektion Biozoenoseforschung Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4 D-06120 Halle (Saale) Germany phone: ++49 (0) 345 558-5316 / fax:++49 (0) 345 558-5329 E-mail:_ Marten.Winter(a)ufz.de___ _http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=708_1 *DAISIE* - Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe _http://www.europe-aliens.org_ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Das UFZ hat einen neuen Namen: Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ The UFZ has a new name: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung GmbH - UFZ Registered Office: Leipzig Registration Office: Amtsgericht Leipzig Trade Register Nr. B 4703 Chairman of the Supervisory Board: MinDirig Hartmut F. Grübel Scientific Director: Prof. Dr. Georg Teutsch Administrative Director: Dr. Andreas Schmidt ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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TDWG and OASIS
by Lee Belbin 02 Dec '07

02 Dec '07

Hi TDWG'ians TDWG is now a member of OASIS. Please see http://www.tdwg.org/homepage-news-item/article/tdwg-now-oasis-member/ for details and contact Paul Allen (pea1 (at) cornell (dot) edu) for further details. Cheers Lee Lee Belbin Manager, TDWG Infrastructure Project Email: lee(a)tdwg.org Phone: +61(0)419 374 133

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Metadata for biodiversity datasets
by Eamonn O Tuama 13 Nov '07

13 Nov '07

Dear TDWG Member, GBIF has identified metadata as a core component of the new distributed architecture model it will be developing as it seeks to scale up by orders of magnitude the numbers of records available through its network. We are planning to run a workshop early in 2008 to begin the process of defining a metadata profile for biodiversity datasets. As a precursor to the workshop, and to help identify and draw potential contributors together, we have created a metadata wiki on the GBIF portal. You will find some pages there to seed the discussions and you are invited to contribute to the wiki if this area is of interest to you. http://wiki.gbif.org/dadiwiki/wikka.php?wakka=CategoryMetadata Best regards, Éamonn ________________________________________________________________ Éamonn Ó Tuama, Ph.D. (eotuama(a)gbif.org), Senior Programme Officer for Data Access & Database Interoperability (DADI), Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, DENMARK Phone: +45 3532 1494; Fax: +45 3532 1480

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TDWG's vision for 2008
by Lee Belbin 06 Nov '07

06 Nov '07

Dear taxacomers and tdwgians Donald Hobern, TDWG's incoming Chairman, has just posted his vision for TDWG for 2008 to http://www.tdwg.org/about-tdwg/news/article/the-new-chairmans-vision-for-200 8/ Best Wishes Lee Lee Belbin Manager, TDWG Infrastructure Project Email: lee(a)tdwg.org

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TDWG specimen RDF and browser project completion
by Kevin Richards 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

A new tool has been developed for searching, harvesting and browsing RDF and XML data within the TDWG domain. Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG: http://www.tdwg.org) recognised the urgent need to apply semantic web technologies to sharing biodiversity data. The endorsement of LSID (Life Science Identifiers) for use within the TDWG domain and associated development of RDF metadata has introduced semantic web protocols. This project was accomplished with funding from the TDWG Infrastructure Project (www.tdwg.org/activities/tip), funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (http://www.moore.org). The tool was developed in parallel with an LSID resolver for specimen-related data. The Herb IMI specimen database was used for the specimen records, which is closely related to the index of Fungi names, IndexFungorum (http://www.indexfungorum.org). Herb IMI contains nearly 400000 specimen records including location data, and is currently hosted by CABI in the UK. The tool's data sources are configurable and the protocols available include TDWG's TAPIR, OAI-PMH and LSID resolution. Multiple data sources can be configured using various protocols, then queried, harvested and stored in a local RDF-triple store cache. Semantic web inferences can then be derived from the cached RDF. The VB.NET code and documentation is located at the source forge project site, http://sourceforge.net/projects/tdwgrdfbrowser/. The code re-uses the TapirDotNET and LSIDDotNET Source Forge projects. An installation file allows for easy installation. The Herb IMI LSID resolver is set up at http://lsid.herbimi.info/authority/ - for example urn:lsid:herbimi.info:specimens:100069. The TAPIR provider (including a subset of the OAI-PMH protocol) is set up at http://lsid.herbimi.info/tapirdotnet/tapir.aspx. Any feedback is very welcome. Kevin Richards Landcare Research New Zealand

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The Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the TDWG Infrastructure Project
by Lee Belbin 01 Nov '07

01 Nov '07

Apologies for cross-postings (but I didn't want to miss anyone!)- The TDWG Infrastructure Project will complete at the end of 2007. Significant advances have been made, among them establishing a common architecture for standards and, as a component, the deployment of Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs). A brief news item on advances is now on the GBIF site- http://www.gbif.org/Stories/STORY1193926152 Many are asking "...where to now for TDWG?" Donald Hobern, as the incoming Chairman of TDWG will post a 'Vision for 2008' in the next week or so. Donald is also stepping down from his role as Deputy Director for Informatics at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to become the Director of the Atlas of Living Australia project. I'm sure that all those who have had the pleasure of working with Donald wish him and his family (very) well! Lee Lee Belbin Manager, TDWG Infrastructure Project Email: lee(a)tdwg.org

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Error in Resource Directory (RDDL) for ABCD 2.06?
by Richardson, Ben 17 Oct '07

17 Oct '07

Hi When I've been constructing instance documents in XMLSpy lately, I've noticed an error that appears to be caused by the instructions on the following page http://www.tdwg.org/schemas/abcd/2.06 which redirects to http://rs.tdwg.org/abcd/2.06/rddl-2007-07-11.html The error is in the "Note 1" text below each normative XML Schema list item: E.g. 'Note 1: Although RDDL-aware processors may automatically detect a schema location, most processors require an explicit location. ABCD instance documents intended for validation should therefore contain the following attributes in the "Datasets" root element: xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.tdwg.org/schemas/2.06 http://rs.tdwg.org/abcd/2.06/ABCD_2.06.xsd".' The xsi:schemaLocation entry should read (as far as XMLSpy thinks): 'xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.tdwg.org/schemas/abcd/2.06 http://rs.tdwg.org/abcd/2.06/ABCD_2.06.xsd" The error text in XMLSpy is: "Schema at location 'http://rs.tdwg.org/abcd/2.06/ABCD_2.06.xsd' has target namespace 'http://www.tdwg.org/schemas/abcd/2.06' rather than 'http://www.tdwg.org/schemas/2.06'." Cheers, Ben -- Ben Richardson w=http://science.dec.wa.gov.au/people/?sid=98 e=ben.richardson(a)dec.wa.gov.au tz=AWST (UTC+8) t=+61 8 9334 0511 f=+61 8 9334 0515 This email, together with any attachments, is intended for the addressee only. It may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, please notify the sender, delete the email and attachments from your system and destroy any copies you may have taken of the email and its attachments. Duplication or further distribution by hardcopy, by electronic means or verbally is not permitted without permission.

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Position: Curator of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
by Alina Freire-Fierro 12 Oct '07

12 Oct '07

Dear all, Your help spreading the word about this position will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks and best wishes! Alina. **** Alina Freire-Fierro PH Collection Manager, Botany X 1157 freirefierro(a)ansp.org ************ Curator of Botany Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The Center for Systematic Biology and Evolution at the Academy of Natural Sciences seeks a botanist to fill a career-track appointment as Curator in the Department of Botany. Rank of the appointment is open. Candidates must have a Ph.D. and a proven record of scientific achievement in collections-based research, and success in attracting external funding. In addition to taxonomic focus, we seek excellence in evolutionary biology in such areas as phylogenetics, comparative morphology, molecular evolution, biogeography, coevolution, or conservation. Beyond research, responsibilities include curation of the collections in the Academy¢s Herbarium, participation in public exhibit and education programs, and administration. The herbarium (PH) has about 1.4 million specimens including some of the oldest and most important plant collections in the Americas. Applications should include: (1) curriculum vitae, (2) statement of research and curatorial interests, (3) names and contact information for three referees, and (4) copies of up to 5 relevant publications. Review of applications will begin November 1. Send materials in pdf form to: botanysearch(a)ansp.org For information about the Academy, the Center, and the Department, see www.ansp.org, www.ansp.org/research/biodiv, and www.ansp.org/research/biodiv/botany. The Academy of Natural Sciences is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and encourages applications from women and minorities.

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FW: Don Hobern leaving GBIFS; Head of Informatics vacancy announcement
by Eamonn O Tuama 11 Oct '07

11 Oct '07

Dear TDWG Member, Apologies for any cross postings. This is the announcement of Donald Hobern's departure from GBIF with attached advert for the vacant position of Head of Informatics at the GBIF Secretariat. Éamonn Ó Tuama ________________________________________________________________ Éamonn Ó Tuama, Ph.D. (eotuama(a)gbif.org), Senior Programme Officer for Data Access & Database Interoperability (DADI), Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, DENMARK Phone: +45 3532 1494; Fax: +45 3532 1480 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Dear All It is with much regret that we announce Donald Hoberns intended departure from the GBIF Secretariat towards the end of 2007. Donald is leaving to take up the role of Project Director for the Atlas of Living Australia, which is seeking to develop a web-based encyclopaedia integrating knowledge of Australias biodiversity. As such, not only do we wish Donald all the very best in his new venture whilst thanking him for his huge contribution to GBIFs success to date, we also look forward to continuing to work closely with Donald, the ALA and all contributors to ABIF and to his continued expert inputs to GBIFs further development. We will communicate more details on Donalds departure later, but in the meantime, request that you forward the accompanying vacancy advert for a Head of Informatics at the GBIF Secretariat to as wide a network of suitable candidates as possible this is a key position for GBIF and we need to source the best possible candidate. Best wishes Nick ----------------------------- Dr Nicholas King Executive Secretary/Director Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat Universitetsparken 15 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark www.gbif.org <http://www.gbif.org> nking(a)gbif.org Tel: +45 35 32 14 71 Fax: +45 35 32 14 80 Cell: +45 28 75 14 71

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