PORBIOTA

E-Infraestrutura Portuguesa de Informação e Investigação em Biodiversidade - PORBIOTA
Acronym: 
PORBIOTA
Reference: 
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022127
Start year: 
2017
End year: 
2020
Type of project: 
National
Principal investigator: 
Nuno Miguel dos Santos Ferrand de Almeida
MARE coordination: 
João Carlos Marques, Ana Marta Gonçalves
Participating Institutions: 
ICETA, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar - Universidade de Aveiro, ICNF, SPECO, Universidade do Porto, Centro de Estudos Florestais - ISA - Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Botânica aplicada à Agricultura - ISA - Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Ecologia, Evolução e Alterações Ambientais da Fundação - FCUL - Universidade de Lisboa, Museu Nacional de História Natural e Ciência - Universidade de Lisboa, Museu de História Natural - Universidade de Coimbra
Funding entity: 
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
State: 
Ongoing
Abstract: 

PORBIOTA is a Portuguese distributed e-infrastructure to manage biodiversity data, which will be integrated in the European e-Science infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem research (LIFEWATCH), an ESFRI Roadmap 2016 Landmark. Tailored according to the national needs (research, management, policy, governance, citizen science) but compliant with the requirements of LIFEWATCH and other international initiatives, PORBIOTA aims to promote a national agenda of biodiversity survey and research, to provide services to the scientific community, policy makers and managers, and to raise biodiversity awareness and public engagement with science through citizen science and other outreach programs. The infrastructure is led by a consortium that includes top national R&D Units, natural history museums, the Portuguese node of GBIF, and the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), and includes some specific nodes/areas (ICOS-PT and LTER Portugal). Together, these partners hold the most comprehensive information on Portuguese biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

PORBIOTA will compile and integrate dispersed information (e.g., databases, literature, multimedia, natural history collections), thus facilitating data access and interoperability, and providing specialized biodiversity data analysis and modelling tools. Overall, PORBIOTA will help coordinate national biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring programs, providing direct support to policy implementation and evaluation, including international reporting.