GEO BON Group on Earth Observations

Biodiversity Observing Network

RJ (Bob) Scholes Chair, GEO BON

CSIR Natural Resources and Environment

PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

IGOS-GEO Symposium, Washington DC

19 November 2009

The mission, paraphrased

• What forms of biodiversity are changing

• Where, and

• Why; and

• with what consequences?

Where are we at?

• Stakeholder endorsement received- Users: CBD, IPBES, IUCN, National nature protection agencies - Providers: Biodiversity NGOs, GBIF, Space Agencies

• Founding documents (Concept and Implementation Plan) accepted• A network has been formed, committee and task groups appointed• Detailed design in progress• Work underway on early products

GEO BON Early Products: Example 1Protected Areas Monitoring Pilot

Species from GBIF

PA boundaryFrom WCMC

Early products Example 2Continuous Plankton Recorder

Scholes, RJ et al 2008 Towards a global biodiversity observation system. Science 321,1044-5

Various

ITISCatalog of Life

GBIF GenBankBOLD

GBIF

WWF-Living Planet

IUCNRed list

GOFC/GOLDGEOSS

WCMC

GEOSS

Spaceagencies

Some missing pieces

• A global database of interaction observations- Food webs (who eats who?)- Pollinators- Hosts and pathogens/parasites - Symbionts, mutualists

• A community/plot/site database- Species that co-occur

• Relative or absolute abundances- Community attributes

• Functional type profile (broadleaf, needleleaf, grass…)• Structure (Height, crown cover, biomass, leaf area…)• Function (NPP, albedo, bulk conductance…)

• Uses of biodiversity (societal benefits)- Nature of use (food, fibre, medicinal, cultural…)- Use intensity- Value

Making the links

Gene sequences

Organisms (indexed by species)

Ecosystems

Persistent identifier

Non-biodiversity dataSpatial location

Interactions Functional types

Abundances (indexed by popn,polygon and time)

spec

ies

Simplicity in complexity: A biodiversity syntax[optional] (quality control)

• Nouns: What, where, when,[how many],(by who),(how)- Ecosystem extent- Species presence/absence/abundance record- Genetic record

• Adjectives: A is a member of B (says who) (when)- Nested taxonomies- Cladistics- Functional types- Communities

• Verbs: A performs action C on B [intensity] (where)(when)(by who)- Food webs- Non-tropic interactions- Ecosystem service flows

Hypothesis: there are just three basic types of record

A natural succession in biodiversity information

1. Presence/absence2. Abundance

1. Confidence intervals2. Time series3. Known individuals

3. Genetic relatedness, phylogenetics4. Species interactions

Simple

Complex

Dealing with institutional diversity and complexity

Observers/data holders

Brokers/intermediaries

Users Countries &Organisations

TDWG

GBIFGenBank GxOS

GEOSS

WCMCEncyc of Life

Nations

Space agenciesLocal biodivNGOs

National/local

Inter-national /global

public

GEO BON

researchers

Internationalbodies

InternationalEnvironmentNGOs

Information divergence versus convergence

Reduce rate of biodiversity loss

Rate of loss Sustainable use ThreatsEcosystems

IntegrityTraditionalknowledge

Benefitsharing

Financialresources

Indicators

Goals

Subtargets

2010 target

Example of an integrated indicator

Biodiversity Intactness %

Species richness (R)

Change in abundance (I)

Land cover/use (A)Ecosystem type

AR

IAR

jkij

ijkjkij

i j k

i j kBII

Scholes, RJ and R Biggs (2005) A biodiversity intactness index Nature 434, 45-9

Some thoughts on the post-2010 targets• A positive vision

- Perhaps based on avoidance of critical thresholds- eg Increasing natural capital, sufficient supply of key services- Stay within adaptive limits

• Based on the possible and desired, rather than the readily available

• Small set that is socially relevant and specific- Health, food and other ecosystem services, hazard avoidance- Key ecosystems: eg Amazon, Great Barrier Reef etc- Central tendency and limits at ecosystem, species and gene levels

• Gene level• Phyllogenetic richness • The genetic foundation of the global food basket

• Species level• Broad-based abundance (population trends in several thousand representative

species)• Risk of extinction (eg red list index)

• Ecosystem level• Natural capital (the capacity to deliver ecosystem services)• Effective extent of critical ecosystems

Achieving the power of integration within GEOSS

BiodiversityBI-07-01b Invasive Species Monitoring System

BI-07-01c Capturing Historical and New Biodiversity Information

EcosystemsEC-09-01a: Ecosystem Classification and Mapping

EC-09-01b: Ecosystem Status and Trends EC-09-01c: Regional Networks for Ecosystems

EC-09-01d: Protected Areas Assessment and Monitoring EC-09-02a: Impact of Tourism on Environmental and Socio-Economic Activities

EC-09-02b: Impact of Transport Infrastructure Development EC-09-02c: Vulnerability of Sea Basins

EC-09-02d: Vulnerability of Mountain Regions

AgricultureAG-06-02: Data Utilization in Fisheries and Aquaculture

Disturbances DI-09-03b: Implementation of a Fire Warning System at Global Level

HealthHE-09-03c: Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Health EN-07-02: Energy Environmental Impact Monitoring CL-09-01a: Enhanced Climate, Weather, Water and Environmental Prediction CL-09-01b: Climate Information for Decision-making and Adaptation

What is going on in 2010• Early Products’ throughout 2010, the International Year of

Biodiversity

• GEO BON all working group meeting,

Asilomar, USA 22-25 Feb 2010

• The run-up to the CBD

- Preparatory science conference, Nagoya, Japan

22-23 March 2010

- Inputs to CBD SBSTTA, Nairobi,May 2010

- World Biodiversity Day, 20 May 2010

- UN General Assembly special session on Biodiversity,

September 2010

- CoP in October 2010

bscholes@csir.co.za

http://www.earthobservations.org/geobon_par.shtml