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August 2010 - articles and reports, media releases, conferences and workshops, biodiversity weblinks

Atlas activities

  • Lynne Sealie, Communications Manager, Atlas of Living Australia, reports on the launch of the Atlas.
    The official launch of the Atlas was performed by Minister Kim Carr at the Melbourne Museum in late July.
  • Lynne welcomes new starters to the Canberra Atlas team:
    Tania Volk who is working as a technical writer and Wai Mok who is part of the java development team. The management team is looking to fill several new positions – expect to read more about new staff members in the next newsletter.
  • Lee Belbin, Geospatial Team Leader, Atlas of Living Australia, reports on the Spatial Analysis Toolkit. (article no longer available)
    A similar page about GIS Services »
  • Benay Wettle, User-centered Design Expert, Atlas of Living Australia, talks about getting the user’s perspective »
    Benay reports on the extensive work with external users over the past two months to fine tune the Atlas prototype before the public launch in October 2010.
  • Kevin Thiele, Descriptive Data Team Leader, Atlas of Living Australia, reports on efforts to support DELTA users.
    The Atlas is considering options for supporting users of the DELTA (Description Language for Taxonomy) descriptive information system for which there is no ongoing maintenance.
  • Miles Nicholls, ALA’s Data Manager, would like to encourage organisations and individuals with ownership of biodiversity data (including observations, specimens, environmental or contextual maps, species information and images) and with an interest in sharing it to contact the Atlas to discuss the possibility of linking to their resources and/or publishing their data via the Atlas. The Atlas aims to make biodiversity information more accessible and usable online.

Partners

  • Ken Walker, Museum Victoria, reports on recent developments in PaDIL.
    PaDIL is a biosecurity and biodiversity software tool that delivers high quality diagnostic images and structured information to the web. A recent software upgrade includes a new product called BowerBird.
  • Jo Harding, Bush Blitz Manager, Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), is upbeat about the Bush Blitz competition.
    Find out about the Bush Blitz Top Ten New Species competition for students.
  • ClimateWatch, an initiative of Earthwatch, has a new website featuring mammals, birds, insects, reptiles and plants that scientists would like assistance in monitoring as part of our scientific response to climate change.
  • Piers Higgs, Gaia Resources and the Atlas, reports how the ClimateWatch project, funded by the Atlas, won the Environment and Sustainability category of the WA Spatial Excellence Awards in July 2010.

Media Release and Report

  • Media Release – Atlas of Living Australia launch at Melbourne Museum, 28 July 2010 (PDF 17KB)
  • Report – Environmental Data Library Workshop, 22-23 April 2010 (PDF 715KB)

Conferences / Workshops

  • Workshop – Parkcare in the Molonglo Valley, 28 August 2010, Canberra (STEP & Molonglo Catchment Group).
    Workshop Invitation (PDF 169KB)
  • Taxonomic Research & Information Network (TRIN), Interactive Field Day, 31 August 2010, Canberra.
    TRIN Flyer (PDF 252KB)
  • TDWG 2010 Annual Conference, 26th September – 1st October 2010, Woods Hole, USA.
    TDWG:2010 conference link
  • Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc (ANPC), 8th National Conference, 28 September – 1 October 2010, Perth. ANPC Flyer (PDF 510KB)
  • Ecological Society of Australia. Annual Conference 6-10 December 2010, Canberra.
    ESA10: 2010 conference link.
  • 15th International Congress of Myriapodology, 18-22 July 2011, Brisbane.
    15ICM Flyer (PDF 76KB), 15ICM website.

Newsletters

  • National Science Week August 2010 (PDF 1.3 MB)
  • DataONE: News Report No. 1 (25 June 2010) from the Director, Bill Michener
  • Centre for Biological Information Technology, June 2010

Biodiversity journal articles

  • Butler, A.J., Rees, T., Beesley, P. & Bax, N.J. (2010) Marine Biodiversity in the Australian Region, PLoS One. 5(8): e11831. Published online 2010 August 2. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011831
  • Franz, N.M. & Thau D. (2010) Biological Taxonomy and Ontology Development: Scope and Limitations, Biodiversity Informatics, 7, pp. 45-66. (PDF 1.63MB)
  • The Internet Bird Collection (videos, images, sounds) – includes Australia
  • ABC Science Online: Australian oceans most biologically diverse, 3 August 2010
  • New Scientist Online: The richest areas of the ocean, 2 August 2010
  • Fresh Science Online: Aussie lizard reveals cancer secrets, 28 June 2010
  • BBC News Online: Experts rediscover plant presumed extinct for 60 years, 24 June 2010
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library visitors to the Melbourne Museum, 8 June 2010
  • ClimateWatch, an initiative of Earthwatch, has a new website featuring flora and fauna that requires monitoring by the public.