What EDIT brings : Funding, Fieldwork, Training, Web, Software Gaël Lancelot EDIT Communication officer

European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy Network of 28 European taxonomic institutions to integrate research and improve the production of knowledge. Funded by the European Commission over 5 years. Coordinated by the MNHN (Paris). Contributes to overcoming the taxonomic impediment identified by the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Goals: – Coordinating European taxonomy (600M€) in a coherent and ambitious European research strategy. – Optimise CETAF infrastructures – Spread and share scientific results with major international initatives (GBIF, CBoL, GTI, CBD, …) Covers: – Taxonomy and classification of life – Molecular barcoding and phylogeny – Management of collections and other infrastructures – Bioinformatics and web services (50% of budget) run by the directors of participating institutions – sat down together for the first time in two centuries European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy

1. Funding Integration Research Grants Goal: Research integration Modalities: Funding for teams of researchers including EDIT members. The grant covers accomodation, transport, fieldwork or lab costs, small equipment, hiring of assistants for the project. The trip must lead to at least one common publication. The maximum grant is €.

1. Funding (cont.) Gender Action Plan Goal: Support for young parents and women scientists. Modalities: Support grant for childcare during scientific trips. Trip support (similar to JRG) for women scientists. Mentoring scheme for young researchers, especially women.

2. Fieldwork ATBI+M Goal: All Taxa Biodiversity inventories and Monitoring. Building task forces for following inventories. Modalities: Funding for transport and logistical support for inventories in the Mercantour/Alpi Marittime (France/Italy), Gemer (Slovakia), Spreewald (Germany), and Udzungwe mountains (Tanzania). Data input following the Excel format provided (for the Mercantour, use CardObs).

3. Training Distributed European School of Taxonomy Goal: Train the next generation of taxonomists and biodiversity specialists Modalities: Modern Taxonomy Course Programme, Summer Schools, Experts-in-Training

3. Training (cont.) Modern Taxonomy Course Programme Goal: Provide the basics of taxonomic skills and theory to future professionnals. Modalities: 5 short courses on taxonomic theory and practice in institutions across Europe, accepting students for the year 2010.

3. Training (cont.) Summer School Goal: Train postgrads in theoretical and practical taxonomy during 2 weeks on the ground. Modalities: 3d edition takes place in July 2010 in Madeira.

3. Training (cont.) Expert-in-Training Programme Goal: Train researchers in various molecular and morphological techniques. Ensure the survival of particular skills, popularise new technologies. Modalities: Personalised or small-group training on a short period. Funding for transport and accomodation for the trainee.

3. Training (cont.) Expert-in-Training Programme

4. Web Experts and expertise database Goal: Help organising work groups. Help non-scientific partners identify the experts they need. Modalities: available at

4. Web (cont.)

4. Web Scratchpads Goal: Support distributed taxonomic work (revisions) by providing a website to receive and share scientific information. Modalities: Free web sites. Can store information on specimens, sequences, taxonomic judgments, names, photographs, bibliography. Help share this information (publically or for a given group.

4. Web (cont.) Scratchpads Your data 1 Published & reviewed on your site 3 Uploaded & tagged 2

2. EDIT Scratchpads …and more! Import, manage, search & browse: Taxonomies Specimens Literature Images Source: V. Smith 4. Web (cont.)

Data portal Goal: Give access to data gathered by groups of taxonomists. Modalities: Easily accessible, showing at the same time nomenclatural informations, specimen data, descriptions, uses, etC. Easily integrates standards such as nomenclatural codes and collection references. 4. Web (cont.)

Portail de données 4. Web (cont.)

Portail de données 4. Web (cont.)

Portail de données 4. Web (cont.)

Portail de données 4. Web (cont.)

Data portal 4. Web (cont.)

Search engines Goal: Use freely accessible data (for example GBIF) for taxonomic research. Modalities: Specific approach for taxonomic work:

5. Software

5. Software Cybertaxonomy platform Goal: Provide unified access to software for modern taxonomy Modalities: Includes software for: Geospatial analysis Data exchange Bibliography Nomenclature management etc…

Platform for Cybertaxonomy Components Common Data Model store Data Portal Taxonomic Editor MapViewer & MapRest FieldDatabase ViTaL Specimen Explorer 4. Web (cont.)

5. Software Taxonomic editor Goal: Provide an easy and quick name management system. Modalities: The software understands the structure of names and identifies (parses) each part. The user can easily change a name’s value (homonymy, homotypy, etc.) The names are immediately useable (with full information attached) in a scratchpad, species list, etc.

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Editeur taxonomique

5. Software (cont.) Identification software Goal: Support field identification by experts or general users. Modalities: Choose and integrate into the cybertaxonomy platform the most useful current identification support software.

6. Software (cont.) MapViewer

6. Software (cont.) Itinerary Tool