Projects

Belgian Biodiversity Platform

The Belgian Biodiversity Platform is a BELSPO-funded initiative that provides services to the Belgian scientific community engaged in biodiversity research as well as to policy-makers and practitioners.

Our team is involved in the organization of events and the mobilization and publication of open biodiversity data. The major part of these datasets are registered with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

GloBAM

GloBAM is a research project funded by BiodivERsA with partners from Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK, the US and our team from Belgium (funded by BELSPO). Its objectives are to monitor the aerial migrations of animals (birds, insects and bats) using weather radar networks, understand global patterns in the intensity, routes and timing of aerial migrations, and to forecast how these migrations are likely to respond to global change.

Our team is responsible for coordinating data management, setting up a data infrastructure, and developing research software to access and analyze these data.

LIFE RIPARIAS

LIFE RIPARIAS is a LIFE-funded project that aims to optimize the management of invasive alien species (IAS) in rivers and ponds. By developing an innovative evidence-based workflow, the project will inform decision-makers and managers of the most effective and cost efficient management actions to successfully control the most problematic species.

Our team is responsible for developing an early warning system for invasive plants and crayfish species, fed by rapidly and openly published IAS occurrence data. We will also develop a reporting system for management actions, using standardized and quantifiable variables.

LifeWatch

LifeWatch Belgium is part of LifeWatch ERIC, a European infrastructure for biodiversity research. LifeWatch was established as part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) and became a European Research Infrastructure consortium (ERIC) in 2017. Belgium contributes to LifeWatch ERIC with initiatives from Flanders, Wallonia-Brussels and the federal state. The Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and the Flemish Marine Institute (VLIZ) are cooperating in the Flemish LifeWatch project, funded by the Research foundation - Flanders (FWO).

Our team is responsible for setting up sensor networks, the publication of biodiversity data, and the development of research software. Our sensor networks include GPS trackers for large birds, an acoustic receiver network for fish, camera traps, groundwater sensors, and climate monitoring. We support researchers from (international) universities and research institutes by publishing open data, building software packages to query and analyze these data and organizing workshops.

TrIAS

Completed

Tracking Invasive Alien Species (TrIAS) is a BELSPO-funded project that tracks invasive alien species in Belgium to inform policy, using open data and open source software. Its main partners are the Meise Botanic Garden, the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Ghent University, and the INBO.

Our team is responsible for mobilizing and publishing important data sources (species lists and observations) as open data to GBIF, creating a unified checklist of alien species in Belgium, and feeding indicators used for policy and risk assessment. All this is done by creating open and reproducible workflows.

Vespa-Watch