Biodiversity Information Projects of the World

bioDISCOVERY

Project Website

http://www.diversitas-international.org/core_biodisc.html

Project Description

Knowledge about the diversity of life on our planet remains limited and fragmentary: as much as 80 per cent of existing species are, as yet, undiscovered and/or undescribed. This is particularly true of unexplored regions of the world and of small organisms such as bacteria, protists and arthropods.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the world is experiencing rapid changes in biodiversity—even in those taxonomic groups and locations that are well described. Often, this results from increasing human activities. Demographic, cultural, political and economic factors are known to have reduced and restructured habitats, thereby altering the distribution and abundance of species. Ultimately, this can lead to changes in the chemical composition of soils, water and the atmosphere that affect the biogeochemical cycles, which regulate ecosystem functions and services. Clearly, there is a need for improving our capacity to effectively monitor and assess biodiversity change and loss.

This area of research holds an additional challenge: most of the world’s richest zones of biodiversity are found within developing regions, where both financial and human resources are weakest—particularly in terms of adequately trained personnel to carry out scientific investigation.

Contact

Paul Leadley
Professor of Ecology
University of Paris

Project Type

Facilitator

Project Language

English

Project Start Date

02-Aug-2007

Key Inputs

Funding from Diversitas

Key Infrastructure

Unknown / not yet implemented

Key Technologies

Unknown / not yet implemented

Key Processes

Assessing current biodiversity, monitoring biodiversity change, understanding and predicting biodiversity change

Geographic Scope

Global - Global

Taxonomic Scope

Life - All

Comments

A core project of DIVERSITAS

Record Status

Information about this project is Complete.
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