Research spotlights

GBIF grows: One billion individual records of species occurrence are now available digitally in the international data network

12. September 2018 | Research spotlights

GBIF.org, as the largest global network for biodiversity data, passed the 1 billion mark of digital evidence on species distribution on 04 July 2018. This milestone symbolizes the great collective achievement of the Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an initiative established in response to an OECD recommendation in 1999 and currently supported by governments from 123 […]

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Obituary of Deschampsia rhenana

10. July 2018 | Research spotlights

Deschampsia rhenana is found only at Lake Constance- unfortunately possibly not for much longer. Because the sweet grass species is critically endangered. Until around the year 2000, there were still large populations of the species on the shores of Lake Constance in Bavaria, but then these declined significantly and disappeared completely from 2005 onwards. In […]

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Digital Collections: SNSB IT Center makes over 5 million records publicly available

7. August 2017 | Research spotlights

The Bavarian Natural History Collections (SNSB) not only possess valuable collection treasures, but also significant data collections that are freely available on the Internet, often with unique, detailed images of large but also microscopic collection objects. The SNSB IT Center now provides more than 5 million data sets and about 290,000 digital images of scientific […]

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Thievish hoverfly steals prey from carnivorous sundews

4. May 2016 | Research spotlights

Hoverflies (also called flower flies), are conspicuous flower visitors of the dipteran family Syrphidae which often mimic the coloration of bees and wasps for protection, however they are totally stingless insects. The larvae (“maggots”) of most species are known to be beneficial organisms that feed on aphids and related insect pests of plants. However, aphids […]

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Orientation in an ocean of data – more than a data portal

5. August 2015 | Research spotlights

Innovative research and new techniques in the field of environmental and ecosystem sciences not only lead to new understandings, but also to a flood of data. Now it is crucial to learn to manage this ocean of data. The aim is the long term availability of data in open access for users and interested public.  […]

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Largest carnivorous sundew of the Americas discovered on Facebook

24. July 2015 | Research spotlights

An international team of botanists from Brazil, USA and the Botanische Staatssammlung München, Germany described a new species of carnivorous sundew (Drosera, Droseraceae), which was discovered on a not-so-remote mountain in Southeastern Brazil. The new species, which has been named Drosera magnifica (the magnificent sundew), turned out to be the largest of its kind known […]

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