USGS Scientist to participate in 26th Session of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Assembly

On June 28, Mark Fornwall, Manager USGS OBIS-USA, will participate as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Twenty-sixth Session of Assembly of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). As chair of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) ad hoc Steering Group, he is needed to participate in consideration of the Group’s recommendations adopted this past March to integrate the OBIS project office within the IOC’s International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program. Dr. Fornwall manages OBIS-USA, the US component to the international OBIS effort. OBIS serves as the global focal point for the management and integration of marine biogeographic. The OBIS data schema (extension of Darwin Core) is an international standard for sharing and integrating marine biological data (e.g. presence-absence-abundance). OBIS-USA and partners are building a national data resource that will help to address important ocean science and societal issues (climate change, minerals and energy, ecosystems, hazards, health, coastal marine spatial planning are a few examples). USGS; Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE); U.S. Navy; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and National Science Foundation (NSF) are key contributors and have supported the program with both data and funding.

The Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network and Nature Conservancy Debut New Online Ecosystem Assessment Tool

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) recently launched the Ecosystem Analysis and Reporting (EAR) tool to visualize ecosystem status and threats in the Americas. The tool is available in both browser-based and ARC desktop-based formats (with English and Spanish user manuals).    The design and development of the tool was executed by TNC’s Caribbean Science Program, working closely with the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of Southern Mississippi.

This tool builds on the information made available through IABIN’s Ecosystems and Protected Areas Thematic Networks by providing conservation decision makers with products for assessing the extent of ecosystems under effective conservation, and offering direction on where to work and what actions may be needed to improve biodiversity conservation.

The tool currently includes data from two pilot regions: the Mesoamerican Reef (in Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula) and the Northern Andes of Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador. TNC led a presentation and workshop utilizing the tool at the Society for Conservation GIS meeting in Monterey, CA, in July and will also present the tool at upcoming IABIN meetings.

This tool is the first in a series of five planned “value-added products for decision makers” that IABIN is developing with funds from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Future tools will integrate additional types of data IABIN has digitized and made available through its GEF project and related activities. The tools will make this data available in more user-friendly and interactive formats, and will also allow select conservation-focused analyses to be performed utilizing this data. For further information, please contact Ben Wheeler at .

(Photo: Tripod Fire, Washington State. Photograph by Philip Higuera, National Parks Ecological Research.)