Microstructural changes will occur in tungsten when used as plasma-facing material in future fusion reactors due to the high operation temperatures. Potassium doping has proven to delay such undesired changes in drawn tungsten wires. The same strategy is adapted to thin cold-rolled tungsten sheets containing 80 ppm potassium. Their thermal stability is characterized by isochronal annealing for two hours as well as isothermal annealing at selected temperatures for longer times. Mechanical degradation is quantified by micro hardness testing; microstructure and texture evolution are investigated using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. During annealing for two hours at temperatures between 800 °C and 1400 °C, the potassium-doped tungsten sheets undergo recovery. The strong rotated cube texture present in the as-rolled condition intensifies enormously during annealing for two hours, but does not change significantly during further annealing. Isothermal annealing at temperatures between 1300 °C and 1400 °C causes significant loss in hardness during the first two hours, but only smaller changes further on, indicating that solely extended recovery is occurring. No evidence for primary recrystallization is found as recrystallization is retarded by a combination of high angle boundaries being absent due to the strong texture and their immobilization by potassium bubbles. The recovery kinetics is quantified based on Kuhlmann’s recovery model and compared with observations on differently rolled thin plates of pure tungsten. Despite different amounts of recoverable hardness, the recovery parameters resolved for potassium-doped tungsten fit nicely to the master curve for recovery obtained earlier on pure tungsten plates confirming that recovery is indeed the dominating restauration mechanism and that doping with 80 ppm potassium does not alter the recovery mechanism fundamentally.

The 4th EU BON Stakeholder Roundtable aimed to present current achievements and products of the project EU BON, which can be assigned to three categories: firstly to tools and infrastructure, secondly to the consortium and its network of collaborators and thirdly to (biodiversity) monitoring and scientific forecasting. The last Stakeholder Roundtable - in contrast to the former Roundtables which addressed European policy (Wetzel et al. 2016), citizen science and the EU BON citizen science gateway (Vohland et al. 2016, Runnel et al. 2016) and local research networks (Vohland et al. 2016b) – focused on sustainability issues of the different components of the European biodiversity observation network. The guiding question of the Roundtable was how to achieve sustainability for the products of EU BON after the project will end. It was also discussed what - among the many different products such as tools, software, scientific knowledge, models and infrastructure - are the most essential components of the project for the specific stakeholders (e.g. agencies, citizen science, researchers) and what is needed for the future (adjustments, sustainability for development, funding). One of the central questions was how the essential components could be sustained, by which institutions or networks and how they can be used in the best way for the European and national policy and research needs (e.g. monitoring, reporting) as well as for the global level (e.g. for the Group on Earth Observations, GEO). Finally, and not to forget, another essential aspect was how a European Biodiversity Network as a whole, with its different components, can be further sustained for fulfilling its goals as a central infrastructure for generating biodiversity data and information on a European scale. Here we report the outcomes and discussions of the meeting and also highlight the main messages.

There are a multitude of biodiversity informatics projects, datasets, databases and initiatives at the global level, and many more at regional, national, and sometimes local levels. In such a complex landscape, it can be unclear how different elements relate to each other. Based on a high-level review of global and European-level elements, we present a map of the biodiversity informatics landscape. This is a first attempt at identifying key datasets/databases and data services, and mapping them in a way that can be used to identify the links, gaps and redundancies in the landscape. While the map is predominantly focused on elements with a global scope, the sub-global focus at the European-level was incorporated in the map in order to demonstrate how a regional network such as the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) can usefully contribute to connecting some of the nodes within the landscape. We identify 74 elements, and find that the informatics landscape is complex in terms of the characteristics and diversity of these elements, and that there is high variability in their level of connectedness. Overall, the landscape is highly connected, with one element boasting 28 connections. The average "degrees of separation" between elements is low, and the landscape is deemed relatively robust to failures since there is no single point that information flows through. Examples of possible effort duplication are presented, and the inclusion of five policy-level elements in the map helps illustrate how informatics products can contribute to global processes that define and direct political targets. Beyond simply describing the existing landscape, this map will support a better understanding of the landscape’s current structure and functioning, enabling responsible institutions to establish or strengthen collaborations, work towards avoiding effort duplication, and facilitate access to the biodiversity data, information and knowledge required to support effective decision-making, in the context of comparatively limited funding for biodiversity knowledge and conservation. To support this, we provide the input matrix and code that created this map as supplementary materials, so that readers can more closely examine the links in the landscape, and edit the map to suit their own purposes.

The EU BON (“Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network”) project has made important contributions towards the achievement of global conservation targets. This infographic illustrates EU BON's contributions towards the achievement of Aichi Biodiversity Target 19 "By 2020, knowledge, the science base and technologies relating to biodiversity, its values, functioning, status and trends, and the consequences of its loss, are improved, widely shared and transferred, and applied.”

This paper suggests a novel inhomogeneous Markov switching approach for the probabilistic forecasting of industrial companies’ electricity loads, for which the load switches at random times between production and standby regimes. The model that we propose describes the transitions between the regimes using a hidden Markov chain with time-varying transition probabilities that depend on calendar variables. We model the demand during the production regime using an autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) process with seasonal patterns, whereas we use a much simpler model for the standby regime in order to reduce the complexity. The maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters is implemented using a differential evolution algorithm. Using the continuous ranked probability score (CRPS) to evaluate the goodness-of-fit of our model for probabilistic forecasting, it is shown that this model often outperforms classical additive time series models, as well as homogeneous Markov switching models. We also propose a simple procedure for classifying load profiles into those with and without regime-switching behaviors.

Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) are measurements required for study, reporting, and management of biodiversity change. They are being developed to support consistency, from the collection to the reporting of biodiversity data at the national, regional and global scales. However, "EBV stakeholders" need to strike a balance between 'doing innovative research' and 'having positive impact' on biodiversity management decisions. This paper reports on a workshop entitled Identifying joint pathways to address the challenges of biodiversity data provision and decision-making and presents the main workshop’s output, a “researcher’s brief” entitled Guiding principles for promoting the application of EBVs for current and future needs of decision-makers. These guiding principles are: Speak with a common voice; Clearly define what is an EBV and how it relates to indicators; Engage beyond the research world; Be realistic about what can be done now and later; Define criteria for good EBVs; Use EBV as a clearing house; Convey the limitations of EBVs; Clarify what impact EBVs should have; Be salient, credible, legitimate, iterative; Don't put an EBV skin on everything you do; Don't create too many EBVs; and Don't reduce EBVs to building blocks of indicators. This brief is of relevance to the wider GEO BON (Group on Earth Observation Biodoversity Observation Network) community, and in particular those scientists/researchers interested in the application of EBVs.

The PREDICTS project-Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)-has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

At the third EU BON roundtable, participants from global, European and regional projects, institutions, governmental organizations and universities met to discuss biodiversity data workflows across different scales and their current limitations. Furthermore, the roundtable focused on tools and products from EU BON and other projects that may help to improve data collection and evaluation. The roundtable, that took place from 10 to 11 December 2015 in Granada, Spain, particularly addressed the EU BON test sites to discuss data mobilization at the site level, workflows of data/information and the further usage for policy reporting and political processes. These issues were discussed with partners from EU BON and related biodiversity projects (LTER, GEO BON, LifeWatch, Ecoscope) and stakeholders of biodiversity data (regional biodiversity networks: the environmental information network of Andalusia (Rediam), the Center for Monitoring and Assessment of Global Change (CAESCG), the Life project ADAPTAMED as well as local scientists). rd

There is a strong need for a comprehensive, coherent, and consistent data policy in ‐ Europe to increase interoperability of data and to make its reuse both easy and legal. Available single recommendations/guidelines on different topics need to be processed, structured, and unified. Within the context of the EU BON project, a team from the EU BON partners from Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin, Plazi, and Pensoft has prepared this report to be used as a part of the Data Publishing Guidelines and Recommendations in the EU BON Biodiversity Portal. The document deals with the issues: (i) Mobilizing biodiversity data, (ii) Removing legal obstacles, (iii) Changing attitudes, (iv) Data policy recommendations and is addressed to legislators, researchers, research institutions, data aggregators, funders, and publishers.

The first EU BON Stakeholder Roundtable was held on 18 June 2013 at the Leibniz Association in Brussels, under the motto and Requirements for Policy. Important topics regarding biodiversity information were discussed with political stakeholders and a variety of valuable recommendations were given for the future process of EU BON in order to improve biodiversity knowledge availability and usability. Among the participants were members of the European policy, representatives of recent European biodiversity projects and EU BON members. At the roundtable, intensive discussions took place regarding what biodiversity policy needs, for example which indicators and measurements are needed to answer policy questions that are related to biodiversity and ecosystems. Suggestions were made to formalize Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV’s) and Aichi targets. A future approach was set towards producing a guideline and timeline for the work on EBVs that should be established within EU BON. The challenges of future research policy were also discussed and the collaboration of EU BON with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will be a substantial part of the continuous contributions to the global process. EU BON should also serve as a showcase for the European Commission in this respect. EU BON also aims to answer crucial questions regarding data policy, e.g. how to establish a general repository for a long-lasting st

Tropical West Africa has a high diversity of bats, which are relatively poorly studied. In this baseline biodiversity assessment of bats in the Simandou Mountain Range of southeastern Guinea (Guinea Forestiere), 312 individual bats belonging to 26 species were captured, four of which represent new species records for the country. Combined with the results of a previous survey, 35 bat species have been recorded at Simandou to date, including a new species (Neoromicia sp. nov.), which we describe here, and an additional species potentially new to science. A neotype for Neoromicia tenuipinnis is designated. We present an annotated checklist of the bats at Simandou and neighbouring sites, including some pertinent field notes on their habitat requirements and conservation status. Furthermore, we discuss the estimated maximum species richness and show that Simandou supports one of the most diverse bat communities in tropical Africa. Finally, we outline conservation concerns with respect to bats in the face of the iron ore extraction activities at Simandou.

The Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the United Nations’ Strategic Plan for Biodiversity set ambitious goals for protecting biodiversity from further decline. Increased efforts are urgently needed to achieve these targets by 2020. The availability of comprehensive, sound and up-to-date biodiversity data is a key requirement to implement policies, strategies and actions to address biodiversity loss, monitor progress towards biodiversity targets, as well as to assess the current status and future trends of biodiversity. Key gaps, however, remain in our knowledge of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. These are mostly a result of barriers preventing existing data from being discoverable, accessible and digestible. In this paper, we describe what regional Biodiversity Observation Networks (BONs) can do to address these barriers using the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) as an example. We conclude that there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in how biodiversity data are collected, stored, shared and streamlined in order to tackle the many sustainable development challenges ahead. We need a shift towards an integrative biodiversity information framework, starting from collection to the final interpretation and packaging of data. This is a major objective of the EU BON project, towards which progress is being made.

BackgroundThe world's biodiversity is in a dramatic decline and in its speed is unprecedented. However, the target to" achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth", formulated in the" 2010 biodiversity targets" at different Conferences of Parties (COPs) of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), has not been met (Secretariat of the CBD 2010, but see Carvalheiro et al. 2013). The empirical basis for assessing the scale of biodiversity loss remains weak, and a comprehensive global analysis is lacking. A main obstacle in achieving the" 2010 biodiversity targets" was the lack of integration of biodiversity information into decisions in sectors other than nature conservation (Mace et al. 2010). Thus, there is a need to acquire the capacity to assess the consequences of a range of …

Fauna Europaea is Europe's main zoological taxonomic index, making the scientific names and distributions of all living, currently known, multicellular, European land and freshwater animals species integrally available in one authoritative database. Fauna Europaea covers about 260,000 taxon names, including 145,000 accepted (sub)species, assembled by a large network of (>400) leading specialists, using advanced electronic tools for data collations with data quality assured through sophisticated validation routines. Fauna Europaea started in 2000 as an EC funded FP5 project and provides a unique taxonomic reference for many user-groups such as scientists, governments, industries, nature conservation communities and educational programs. Fauna Europaea was formally accepted as an INSPIRE standard for Europe, as part of the European Taxonomic Backbone established in PESI. Fauna Europaea provides a public web portal at faunaeur.org with links to other key biodiversity services, is installed as a taxonomic backbone in wide range of biodiversity services and actively contributes to biodiversity informatics innovations in various initiatives and EC programs.

Biodiversity is threatened on a global scale and the losses are ongoing. In order to stop further losses and maintain important ecosystem services, programmes have been put into place to reduce and ideally halt these processes. A whole suite of different approaches is needed to meet these goals. One major scientific contribution is to collate, integrate and analyse the large amounts of fragmented and diverse biodiversity data to determine the current status and trends of biodiversity in order to inform the relevant decision makers. To contribute towards the achievement of these challenging tasks, the project EU BON was developed. The project is focusing mainly on the European continent but contributes at the same time to a much wider global initiative the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), which itself is a part of the Group of Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). EU BON will build on existing infrastructures such as GBIF, LifeWatch and national biodiversity data centres in Europe and will integrate relevant biodiversity data from on-ground observations to remote sensing information, covering terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.A key feature of EU BON will be the delivery of relevant, fully integrated data to multiple and different stakeholders and end users ranging from local to global levels. Through development and application of new standards and protocols, EU BON will enable greater interoperability of different data layers and systems, provide access to improved analytical tools and services, and will provide better harmonized biodiversity recording and monitoring schemes from citizen science efforts to long-term research programs to mainstream future data collecting. Furthermore EU BON will support biodiversity science-policy interfaces, and facilitate political decisions for sound environmental management, also to help conserve biodiversity for human well-being at different levels, ranging from communal park management to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Additionally, the project will strengthen European capacities and infrastructures for environmental information management and sustainable development. The following paper outlines the framework and the approach that is pursued.

Arvicanthis niloticus was radio-tracked in the grasslands of the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Home range sizes calculated by Ranges V(R) using the Minimum Convex Polygon Method (at 95%) were on average 5.5 times larger in the bushland-grassland mosaic than those in the Abutilon guineense-Ocimum suave bushland. An inverse relation between home range size and population density was found. In both habitats the species was highly active during daylight hours but differed in activity patterns.