1 482

Publications in 2023

215 000

Updates in 2023

11 million

Species detections in 2023

207

Datasets with new open data in 2023

User stories

  • Patterns in nature: WoRMS images in a unique design book
    shell pattern

    Patterns in nature: WoRMS images in a unique design book

    The book Coding, Shaping, Making combines inspiration from architecture, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and other fields to look towards the future of architecture, design and art. It presents ongoing experiments in the search for fundamental principles of form and form-making. This enables us to...

  • Visualising EU fisheries agreements with Maritime Boundaries for the European Parliament
    eu flags

    Visualising EU fisheries agreements with Maritime Boundaries for the European Parliament

    Members of the European Parliament are being brought up to speed on upcoming votes with background materials prepared by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS). In recent EPRS publications concerning EU fisheries agreements, MarineRegion’s Maritime Boundaries are being used to visualise...

  • Understanding mass mortality in saiga antelope population
    saiga west kazakhstan

    Understanding mass mortality in saiga antelope population

    The Saiga antelope is an endangered species that lives in Central Asian steppes and semi-arid regions. Scientists around the world are working tirelessly to prevent it from becoming completely extinct. Every year, they migrate approximately 500 km from north to south, and back. In 2015, roughly 60%...

  • There’s no plaice like an offshore wind farm
    Offshore wind farm

    There’s no plaice like an offshore wind farm

    Offshore wind farms are built at a high rate in European waters to make the transition towards more green energy sources. Their development takes up marine space that is often not available anymore to other users such as the fisheries sector. This while knowledge on the ecological effects of wind...

Organisms of interest

Birds
Birds
Fish
Fish
terrestrial mammals
Terrestrial mammals
Other
  • Bats
    Bats
  • Plankton
    Plankton
  • shell
    Shells & mollusks
  • Insects
    Insects
  • env measurements
    Environmental monitoring
  • marine mammals
    Marine mammals

Regions of interest

Freshwater
Freshwater
marine
Marine
terrestrial
Terrestrial
Antarctica
Antarctica

Innovative approaches

/acoustics-0

Acoustics

acoustic
/camera-trapping-0

Camera trapping

Camera trapping
/animal-tracking-0

Animal tracking

Animal tracking
/citizen-science

Citizen science

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/genomic-observatories

Genomic observatories

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/plankton-imaging-0

Plankton imaging

Plankton imaging
/remote-sensing-0

Remote sensing

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Data & services

Taxonomic services

Species Occurence services

Biodiversity Observatory automation services

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LifeWatch ERIC

LifeWatch ERIC is the European Research Infrastructure Consortium providing e-Science research facilities to scientists investigating biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services in order to support society in addressing key planetary challenges. 

LifeWatch Belgium, also called the National Distributed Centre for LifeWatch Belgium combines the regional and federal LifeWatch contributions from Belgium.

Learn more

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Latest news

  • First ETN datasets available through GBIF
    ETN

    First ETN datasets available through GBIF

    The first datasets from the Permanent Belgian Acoustic Receiver Network are now available via GBIF. Over 507,000 fish tracking records from Belgian waters offer new insights into species movement and biodiversity.
  • EurOBIS celebrates its 20th anniversary with a super-harvest!
    20 years EurObis

    EurOBIS celebrates its 20th anniversary with a super-harvest!

    Over its 20 years’ existence, EurOBIS formed alliances with European initiatives as a supporting infrastructure and network. Major milestones include EurOBIS serving as the data backbone of the European Marine Observations and Data Network Biology (EMODnet Biology) since 2009 and being part of the central Species Information Backbone of LifeWatch since 2014.
  • Closing the WoRMS 15th anniversary celebrations with an opinion paper
    Closing the WoRMS 15th anniversary celebrations with an opinion paper

    Closing the WoRMS 15th anniversary celebrations with an opinion paper

    In follow-up of the 10th anniversary paper on WoRMS, the Data Management Team is proud to present a paper celebrating the 15th anniversary of WoRMS: "The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) through the looking glass: insights from the Data Management Team in light of the crystal anniversary of WoRMS".

Events