A hybrid conference about the open data on species, their availability, the ways in which species information is delivered and the coherence of different data types. Because data on species and the relationships between species are paramount for analysing and understanding communities. That’s "Biodiversity Digital Services" in a nutshell. That is going to take place in Tartu on the 14th of May 2022, hosting 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.

The conference is part of the programme for the 220th anniversary of the University of Tartu Natural History Museum and the Faculty of Science and Technology. It’s not a coincidence if it’s part of the third Estonian Taxonomy Day.

"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 of 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).

The conference is free of charge, but participants are expected to register by 17:00 on 2 May.