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One of the 2004 GBIF Demo Projects will be carried out by a team that includes the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage, in collaboration with the Queensland Museum, CSIRO Division of Entomology, Reference Centre for Environmental Information (CRIA) - Brazil, and CONABIO - Mexico. The project will develop an internet-based tool for biogeographic analysis of GBIF data, which will analyse and display species richness, endemism and taxonomic distinctiveness, drawing directly on GBIF specimen locality data in DiGIR format. The results generated by the tool would be displayed as a gridded map (see larger image) of species richness, endemism or taxonomic distinctiveness for a chosen study region and taxonomic group. The system would help to integrate GBIF data into conservation planning and biogeographic analysis without the need for the user to have dedicated analysis software.
The other project, a collaboration among CONABIO and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and the University of Kansas, is entitled "Species Population Loss Meter Project". This Project will demonstrate the feasibility of actually estimating the rate of disappearance of species populations by estimating distribution areas of species associated with primary vegetation on the basis of primary biodiversity data as obtained from GBIF, measuring the rates of loss of primary vegetation using satellite remote sensing, and estimating the rate of population loss by overlapping the two kinds of maps. This project will be the first methodological step toward assessing degree of compliance with the Millenium Goal and CBD 2010 Initiative of reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.
Work has already begun on both projects, and completion is expected by May 2005. In the meantime, explore the possibilities for use of GBIF data revealed in the 2003 Demonstration Project.
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