What 2,306 eels can tell us about migration and environmental barriers

Eel migration

Animal tracking is the practice of monitoring and studying animal movements and behaviour in their natural environment from a distance, across various spatial and temporal scales, through a suit of tools and technologies.

Thanks to this methodology, researchers are able to gather key information about the biology and ecology of organisms, providing insights for conservation frameworks and regulations. In addition, the analysis covers extended temporal periods, regardless of weather conditions, with minimal environmental and individual disturbance.

A practical example is the landmark study co-authored by LifeWatch Belgium’s researchers Pieterjan Verhelst and Jan Reubens (who is also coordinating LifeWatch ERIC’s Thematic Service Working Group on Animal Tracking). The study brings together tracking data from 18 previous studies involving more than 2300 exemplars of nature’s great traveller: the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), with the objective of gathering insights on its migration, and the environmental barriers that hinder it.

The eels travels up to 9,000 km from continental Europe and northern Africa to spawn in the Atlantic Ocean, although it is yet unclear to scientists how they coordinate their migration across such vast distances.

Through acoustic telemetry and the Nedap Trail System, and collaboration between LifeWatch Belgium and the European Tracking Network (ETN), the researchers came to reveal some striking patterns in the duration of the migration, as well as differences in speed according to the type of habitat (tidal VS non-tidal).

They could also confirm how substantial obstacles such as pumping stations, or hydropower plants, affect the migration by delaying its course. Read the whole article on LifeWatch Belgium to learn more: https://www.lifewatch.be/news/europe-atlantic-new-insights-eel-migration.

Did you know that you can join LifeWatch ERIC’s Working Group on Animal Tracking? Visit the page to learn more: https://www.lifewatch.eu/thematic-services-working-groups/wg-animal-movement/.

Long Live Biodiversity Data! LifeWatch ERIC and LifeWatch Italy at Living Data 2025

Living Data 2025 (1)

The Living Data 2025 Conference took place in Bogotá, Colombia, from 21-24 October 2025, bringing together biodiversity networks, scientists, researchers, practitioners and other experts from around the world. The event offered an opportunity to connect with the Latin American community and exchange experiences with global biodiversity data initiatives.

This year’s programme focused on three main themes:

  • Building standards that promote data sharing and interoperability;
  • Bringing together and providing access to diverse sources of information;
  • Monitoring our progress toward conserving and restoring the planet’s biodiversity.

LifeWatch ERIC participated actively in the event, co-organising a symposium led by Christos Arvanitidis, CEO, together Niels Raes (NLBIF/Naturalis Biodiversity Centre), Lyubomir Penev, Peter Bozakov, and Nikol Yovcheva (Pensoft Publishers) , titled “Long Live Biodiversity Data: Knowledge Transfer and Continuity across Research Projects”. The session spread over two days, 22 and 23 October (the recording is available here: https://www.livingdata2025.com/program.html?session=6788879-1_2025-10-22_Caldas).

The symposium addressed one of the main challenges in international research projects: their limited duration. The discussion therefore focused on how to ensure that the knowledge and data produced continue to have an impact beyond the projects’ lifetime.

Experts from across DiSSCo, LifeWatch ERIC and Pensoft communities explored strategies for securing the legacy of research results through open science practices, with a particular emphasis on the quality of data for effective reuse, the standardisation of nomenclature, and the development of FAIR foundations for biodiversity genomics. They also discussed the integration of digital tools to enhance collaboration, from platforms for data-rich publication to systems enabling faster communication of invasive species alerts and the translation of local findings into policy-relevant knowledge.

Christos Arvanitidis presented the Biodiversity Knowledge Hub, developed within the BiCIKL project, as a concrete example of how European and global communities can work together to ensure lasting access to biodiversity knowledge in his talk, titled “In his talk, titled “Biodiversity Knowledge Hub: Bridging Research Infrastructures, Aggregators, and Communities – Past, Present, and Future”.

Examples from several international initiatives demonstrated how the continuity of biodiversity data can be maintained through information hubs, semantic frameworks, and collaborative workflows that enable exchanges within the global biodiversity data space.

In parallel with the symposium, LifeWatch ERIC and LifeWatch Italy contributed several oral presentations:

  • Christos Arvanitidis | Transforming Knowledge into Practice: Science, Technology and Innovation in Support of the UN SDGs.
  • Christos Arvanitidis | Biodiversity Knowledge Hub: Bridging Research Infrastructures, Aggregators, and Communities – Past, Present, and Future
  • Maite Irazábal Pla | A FAIR tool for assessing the environmental impact of energy transition policies.
  • Andrea Tarallo | A new platform to build and support citizen science projects in biodiversity.
  • Andrea Tarallo | LifeWatch Italy infrastructure: a national asset for Open and FAIR Biodiversity Data.
  • Martina Pulieri | Bridging biodiversity data: an ontology-driven approach
  • Ilaria Rosati | Traits Thesaurus: a semantic artefact to harmonise data and metadata of aquatic organism traits
  • Cristina Di Muri | A FAIR and Open approach for the study and integrated management of Invasive Alien Species in Italy
  • Cristina Di Muri | Empowering data integration and semantic interoperability across environmental domains to address the biodiversity crisis and related environmental challenges.

Overall, it was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with project partners, exchange ideas with institutions from our field, and meet colleagues from our national node, LifeWatch Italy. Take a look at the conference website for updates, recordings, photos and more: www.livingdata2025.com

In the picture: Christos Arvanitidis, Maite Irazábal Pla (LifeWatch ERIC), Ilaria Rosati, Andrea Tarallo, Cristina Di Muri (LifeWatch Italy).

OntoPortal Workshop 2025

OntoPortal Workshop

The OntoPortal Workshop 2025, hosted by Freie Universität Berlin at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, took place in Berlin from 29 September to 2 October.

Every year, the Workshop brings together members of the OntoPortal Alliance to discuss strategies and future activities. The OntoPortal Alliance is in fact a consortium of several research and infrastructure teams dedicated to promoting the development of ontology repositories, in science and other disciplines, based on the open, collaboratively developed OntoPortal open source software (Source: Clement Jonquet, Jennifer L Vendetti, Guillaume Alviset, Ilaria Rosati, John Graybeal, et al.. OntoPortal Workshop 2024 Report. INRAE; Stanford University. 2024. ffhal-04891214f).

These teams develop and maintain several openly accessible semantic artefact catalogues, or ontology repositories, in multiple domains. Among them, LifeWatch ERIC manages EcoPortal, the repository of semantic resources for ecology and related fields (https://ecoportal.lifewatch.eu).

This year, representatives from EcoPortal (Ilaria Rosati, Martina Pulieri and Michael Griniezakis), AgroPortal (Clement Jonquet, Imad Bourouche), EarthPortal (Christelle Pierkot and Hakim Allem), BiodivPortal (Naouel Karam, Ralph Schäfermeier and Adrian Paschke), BioPortal (Mark Musen, Jennifer Vendetti, Michael Dorf and Alex Skrenchuk), MatPortal (Alexandru-Aurelian Todor), OntoPortal-Astro (Baptiste Cecconi), CHPortal (Beatrice Markhoff, Louise Parkin), SocioPortal (Darren Bell), HSPortal (Anais Guillem) and other guests from NFDI (Roman Baum and Jakob Voss) joined the discussions.

Key topics included ontology development lifecycle, MOD-API implementation, new developments including generative AI and OntoPortal, and collaborations in projects and initiatives.

ENERGYTRAN: highlights from the international e-learning course on Open Science and Environmental Challenges

Guillermo Anlló opens the ENERGYTRAN Open Science and Environmental Challenges e-course

From 22 to 26 September 2025, the EULAC ENERGYTRAN project delivered the e-learning Course “Environmental Challenges and Open Science – an approach to Innovation and Technology” in San José, Costa Rica.

Organised in a hybrid format, with in-person sessions hosted at the Centro Nacional de Alta Tecnología (CeNAT) and streamed online, the event brought together a wide range of countries and institutions from across Latin America and Europe.

The course was designed to train professionals in the principles and practices of Open Science, and potential applications to tackle global issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Experts from EU-LAC shared knowledge, tools and case studies demonstrating how Open Science fosters collaboration, accelerates discovery, and strengthens inclusive participation to research.

The programme combined both international and regional perspectives. Guillermo Anlló from UNESCO opened the presentations with a reflection on the role of Open Science, and the urgent need for a cultural shift. Giulia Malaguarnera (University of Minho/OpenAIRE, Portugal) showed how Open Science has become institutionalised in Europe, supported by infrastructures like OpenAIRE and EOSC, highlighting ongoing debates on research assessment. Andrea Mora Campos (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica) offered the Latin America’s perspective through the description of its community-driven model, built on non-commercial open access and strong networks like La Referencia and SciELO.

The second day featured a session on open software by Kevin Moraga García (Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica), with contributions from Diana Andone (UPT Timisoara, România) and Ricardo Andrade, Alexandre Lucas, and Carlos Silva (INESCTEC, Portugal), who showcased open tools, repositories, and practical applications.

The focus of the third shifted to infrastructures and capacity building. Tania Altamirano (RedCLARA) presented digital ecosystems in Latin America, Allan Campos (CeNAT, Costa Rica) highlighted the benefits of Open Science for early-career researchers, and Radu Vasiu (UPT Timisoara) examined publication impact and quality methods.

The fourth day explored the application of Open Science to biodiversity and environmental sciences, with Francisco Pando (GBIF, Spain) and Julio Paneque (LifeWatch ERIC, Spain) presenting FAIR data and a range of biodiversity-related tools.

Finally, the closing day turned to social participation and citizen science. Rafael Corrales (UNESCO, Costa Rica) emphasised the integration of scientific, local, and Indigenous knowledge, while Valeria Arza (UNSAM, Argentina) shared experiences of citizen science initiatives from the region.

This course, one of the deliverables of the ENERGYTRAN project, was the result of a joint effort between CeNAT, OEI, INESCTEC, IPS, and LifeWatch ERIC to promote a model of science that is more collaborative, transparent, and accessible to all.

Agroecology & Digital Innovation: LifeWatch ERIC at ERSAC 2025

ERSAC 2025

The ERSAC Conference 2025 (European Research Services on Agroecology), from 1 to 3 October 2025, brought together scientists, decision-makers and practitioners across Europe to exchange strategies for a sustainable and resilient agriculture sector and advance actions in support of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy.

LifeWatch ERIC joined the conference under the framework of the AgroServ Project (https://www.lifewatch.eu/agroserv): a network of research infrastructures that offer integrated services, with the objective of accelerating the agroecological transition. LifeWatch ERIC contributes through its infrastructure, data services and coordination in order to strengthen the collaboration across infrastructures.

Iria Soto Embodas (Scientific Researchers at LifeWatch ERIC’s ICT Core, presented a talk on “Data and Monitoring for the Agroecological Transition in the Agroecology Partnership.”, in the session dedicated to Agroecological Transition for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture. Iria emphasised the need for harmonised data collection and monitoring standards in Europe, and the role of ICT and digital platforms in evaluating, supporting, and scaling agroecological practices. In fact, associating agroecological policy and practice with robust monitoring and data systems can support sustainable farming at scale.

Are you curious to learn more about agroecology? We had a conversation on this topic with José Manuel Ávila-Castuera, Senior Scientific Manager. Listen to the podcast to learn more about this approach: https://www.lifewatch.eu/podcasts/agroecology-applying-ecological-processes-to-agriculture.