The 3rd Estonian Taxonomy Day: Hybrid conference "Biodiversity Digital Services"

On 14 May, members of the Estonian Research Infrastructures Roadmap object "Natural History Archives and Information Network" (NATARC) and the Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library (BiCIKL), together with the University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden, will host a hybrid conference "Biodiversity Digital Services" as part of the third Estonian Taxonomy Day. The conference is in English and will take place at Oecologicum (J. Liivi 2, Tartu) and online.

The conference is part of the programme of the 220th anniversary of the University of Tartu Natural History Museum and the Faculty of Science and Technology, and its main topic is services provided by global digital infrastructures, including publishers. Presentations will focus on the open data on species, their availability, the ways in which species information is delivered and the coherence of different data types. Data on species and the relationships between species are paramount for analysing and understanding communities. Therefore, digital infrastructures storing data need to comply with common international standards, and their managers need to work closely together to link and publish data.

"It makes perfect sense for the international conference to take place in Estonia. Estonian researchers are at the cutting edge of the theoretical foundations of biodiversity digital services and the creation of practical services. Estonia is one of the few countries where most species information is available from a single data portal – the eBiodiversity website. Led by Estonian researchers, a unique DOI-based digital platform for species information has been developed and is increasingly used by gene banks and data portals," said Professor Urmas Kõljalg, Director of the University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden.

Speakers of the conference include Joe Miller (Director of the global biodiversity data network GBIF), Lyubomir Penev (Managing Director the academic publishing company Pensoft Publishers), Urmas Kõljalg (PlutoF platform), Henrik Nilsson (community of the global UNITE database for the sequence-borne identification of fungal species) and Kessy Abarenkov (UNITE community).

Conference schedule below!

The conference is free of charge, but participants are expected to register by 12 May. The conference will take place on-site at Oecologicum, 2 Juhan Liivi Street, Tartu (Estonia). The conference can be followed live on the web.

Members of the Estonian Research Infrastructures Roadmap object "Natural History Archives and Information Network" (NATARC) and the Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library (BiCIKL), together with the University of Tartu Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden, will host a hybrid conference "Biodiversity Digital Services" as part of the third Estonian Taxonomy Day. The conference is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

Date: May 14, 2022
Time: 10:00 am (CEST)
Location: Oecologicum, J. Liivi 2, Tartu, Estonia and Online

Please note that all times are in Central European Summer Time (CEST).

Conference Schedule

9:00 Gathering, registration, coffee break. Books can be purchased in cash on site.

10:00 Welcoming words. The conference will be opened by Maarja Öpik, University of Tartu

10:15 “The evolution of biodiversity data” Joe Miller, GBIF

10:45 “From uni- to bi- and multi-directional linking of biodiversity from BiCIKL's perspective” Lyubomir Penev, Pensoft Publishers

11:15 “Biodiversity data of the area” Urmas Kõljalg, University of Tartu, UNITE community

11:45 Coffee break

12:30 “UNITE SH matching service - communicating the unknowns” Kessy Abarenkov, University of Tartu, UNITE community

12:50 “Making sense of the fungi around us” Henrik Nilsson, University of Gothenburg, UNITE community

13:10 “Publishing eDNA data in GBIF” Thomas Stjernegaard Jeppesen, GBIF

13:30 “Shaping community norms: GBIF experience in DNA derived data” Dmitry Schigel, GBIF