The 2003 Ebbe Nielsen Prize for innovative application of biodiversity informatics in biosystematics was awarded to Dr. Stefan Schröder of Bonn, Germany. Schröder developed a method for identifying bee species by imaging their wings and analyzing the images on a computer.
The prize of US$35.000 will enable the winner to continue developing methods to make extinction, migration, radiation and genetic impoverishment visible in space and time using molecular methods, new classification algorithms and GIS applications.
The Nielsen Prize, the only award in the world for work in biodiversity informatics, is given each year by the GBIF Governing Board and honours the memory of Ebbe Schmidt Nielsen, a renowned Danish entomologist and avid promoter of biodiversity informatics. He was a founding member of the GBIF Governing Board, on which he represented Australia. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack en route to the first meeting of the GBIF Governing Board.
The first Prize was presented to the winner in Canberra, Australia, where Ebbe Nielsen had lived and worked for nearly 20 years. The second Prize was awarded in Nielsen’s native Denmark in conjunction with the 6th meeting of the GBIF Governing Board and the inauguration of the GBIF Secretariat building in Copenhagen.
"To receive the 2003 Ebbe Nielsen Prize is a great honor for me," said Schröder. "I’m very grateful to the GBIF Governing Board and the GBIF Science Committee for awarding me this prestigious Prize which honors the memory of Dr. Ebbe Schmidt Nielsen, an entomologist whose work I deeply respect and value. I feel sorry that I never met him personally."
Schröder’s invention is very important in agriculture. Bees pollinate about one third of all crop species, but many bee species are becoming extinct.
For scientists to be able to study pollination and attempt to find replacement bee species, they must be able to identify the bees with which they work. However, such identifications are extremely difficult for non-specialists. Schröder’s application will enable almost anyone with a digital camera and a computer to identify bees.