As a fundamental data platform, we will generate standardized, global data on a range of species groups, thus allowing quantification of variation in ecological communities at spatial scales covering six orders of magnitude (from 0.1 km to 10000 km), across hundreds of thousands of species. As a key deliverable, we will develop global joint species distribution models describing the spatiotemporal structure of life on Earth. This task relies on a collaboration of a new type – a distributed sampling design involving 100 sites across the globe, with denser sampling in the Nordic countries and in Madagascar.
News
Links to news items
Tirol heute (Austrian, in German, video): Erhebung zur Artenvielfalt
Extrakt (Swedish, text and pictures): Global jakt på nya arter
Our third newsletter lists several updates to the sampling regime.
Our second newsletter describes the continuing ramp-up phase and updates to the sampling protocol
March 2021: Newsletter and Startup webinar
LIFEPLAN Startup webinar Youtube
Webinar for Lifeplan teams held March 11, 2021. How has sampling started, how does it work and why? Featuring Tomas Roslin, Bess Hardwick, Deirdre Kerdraon and Otso Ovaskainen as speakers. Video introductions by Adrian Barrett & team Perth, and Andrea Sciarretta & team Termoli. Q & A session at the end.
LIFEPLAN awarded ERC Synergy funding
LIFEPLAN, the project led by Professor Otso Ovaskainen, is the second recipient in Finland of the highly competitive Synergy funding from the European Research Council ERC. The purpose of this six-year, 12.6 million euro project is to map global biodiversity with scientific tools. At the same time the researchers will be working to understand the effects of climate change and land use on biodiversity.