From a working group to a platform for rapid and effective Red List assessment: the evolution of sRedList

sRedList

The story of sRedList is one of research and innovation grown directly from practical needs. sRedList developed from challenges related to the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (known as the IUCN Red List), and from the collaborative efforts to address them. Step by step, these efforts shaped the platform into what it is today: a tool developed from experience, shared expertise, and a clear understanding of the practical demands of Red List assessment.

At the beginning, sRedList started as a working group funded by sDiv, the synthesis centre for biodiversity sciences of iDiv, between 2021 and 2023. Coordinated by Luca Santini and Moreno Di Marco, with Victor Cazalis as a postdoctoral researcher, the group brought together Red List practitioners and ecological modellers to address a major challenge: facilitating the work of Red List assessors.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species plays a crucial role in biodiversity conservation by monitoring the status of species, supporting conservation policies, and assessing the effectiveness of conservation actions. Yet assessors have faced challenges in expanding the number of species assessed, updating existing assessments, and making assessments more robust and standardised.

Although modelling methods have been developed for years to support and streamline this work, their uptake in Red List assessments has remained limited. The development of sRedList was therefore closely connected to the Red List community itself.

Through a series of encounters with assessors, species experts, and naturalists, the first prototype was tested and progressively improved. Feedback from the community led to new features and modifications, transforming an initial prototype into a platform capable of integrating different data sources and analytical methods into a single workflow. The platform was developed in close collaboration with LifeWatch Italy, that developed the online infrastructure and hosts the platform on their servers. The analyses are being developed and maintained by Victor Cazalis, presented in detail in Cazalis et al., 2024, in Biological Conservation.

Today, sRedList guides users through seven steps, making the assessment workflow accessible also to users without advanced scripting skills. The platform can use occurrence data from sources including GBIF, OBIS, the Red List or users’ own files, and can produce outputs that can be integrated into the Species Information Service (SIS).

Among other functions, sRedList can generate species distribution maps, estimate Area of Habitat and its trends, identify countries of occurrence, assess forest-cover trends within a species’ range, and calculate severe fragmentation.

The platform is currently undergoing an engineering update, with new modules being developed to make the service more solid and further support the work of Red List assessors. sRedList can count today on multidisciplinary skills: the core team expanded overtime, and now involves also members of CNR, LifeWatch Italy, and LifeWatch ERIC – who maintains the platform up to date and operational.

Stay tuned and learn more about sRedList: https://sredlist.eu

Photo credits: sRedList website

LifeWatch ERIC at TDWG 2026: strengthening biodiversity data infrastructures through coordination and interoperability

TDWG 2026 (1)

Anne Fouilloux, LifeWatch ERIC’s CTO, attended the TDWG 2026 Conference and participated in the panel discussion “Strengthening resilience in biodiversity data infrastructures: From practice to global coordination”, on Tuesday 22 September.

The discussion, moderated by Sharif Islam (Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands) and Giuditta Parolini (Museum für Naturkunde, Germany), started from the question of how scientific collaboration can move beyond “bilateral” technical integrations, to shift toward a coordinated biodiversity data ecosystem.

Moving from data siloed across specialised infrastructures like DISSCo, GBIF, BHL, eLTER, ELIXIR, and LifeWatch ERIC, and using the DiSSCo-GBIF collaboration as a starting point, the session invited participants to explore grounds for collaborations across infrastructures.

“A data infrastructure that stops at “data” is incomplete”, commented Anne Fouilloux on her participation in a social media post published after the event. She highlighted that resilience is not only about preserving data, but also about preserving the context that makes data understandable, trustworthy and reusable, including provenance, metadata, methods, workflows and the services that support their use.

She also pointed to the role of FAIR Digital Objects (FDOs) in this context, describing them as a way of encapsulating data together with the information needed to understand, trust and reuse it, while preserving this context as data are transformed and combined. According to Dr. Fouilloux, this represents a continuation of a broader trajectory in biodiversity data infrastructures: as standards, ontologies and mappings have progressively reduced the burden of data curation and reconciliation placed on users, FDOs can contribute to extending this principle by making interoperability and reuse increasingly infrastructure-driven rather than user-driven.

A key challenge, she observed, is now to make these concepts accessible beyond communities already familiar with FDOs, provenance and interoperability. The discussion brought together perspectives from several European and international biodiversity data infrastructures and highlighted the importance of moving from individual technical integrations towards shared approaches that can strengthen the resilience and sustainability of the wider biodiversity data ecosystem.

The LifeWatch Italy team also attended the conference to discuss about National Biodiversity Data Infrastructures, and infrastructure-driven solutions:

Andrea Tarallo presented the poster “Assessing the maturity and sustainability of the LifeWatch Italy Data Portal using the Data Infrastructure Maturity Profile“, during the Workshop “Strengthening National Biodiversity Data Infrastructures through International Coordination”, co-organised by Anton Güntsch, David Fichtmueller, Tanja Weibulat, Victor Heijke, Andrea Tarallo, on 22 September.

Cristina di Muri presented “Infrastructure-driven solutions to strengthen semantic interoperability in ecology”, in the session “Semantic Interoperability and Standards Infrastructure” moderated by Ben Norton.

Jessica Titocci presented “Traits Thesaurus: towards semantic harmonisation of FAIR trait-based data on aquatic organisms”, in the session “AI-Readiness Metrics and Metadata for Biodiversity Data”, organised by and Yasin Bakış, Cem Meydan.

For more information about the TDWG 2026 Conference, visit: https://www.tdwg.org/conferences/2026/#

Advancing FAIR tools for climate change adaptation with FAIR2Adapt

FAIR2ADAPT climate change adaptation

The FAIR2Adapt project hasn’t stopped over the summer, and continued to follow its programme of case study development and community engagement, coordinated by LifeWatch ERIC.

A fourth webinar in the FAIR Solution series was launched, presented by Tina Odaka (Ifremer), demonstrating how high-resolution coastal ocean models from the RiOMar project can be made accessible and reusable through a FAIR dashboard built on the I-ADOPT framework (full webinar series here: https://www.youtube.com/@EOSCFair2Adaptproject).

This summer also brought a notable demonstration of FAIR infrastructure in action: the same FAIR dashboard developed for RiOMar was successfully reused, without modification, for FAIR2Adapt’s Arctic radionuclide case study. This is a concrete example of reusing FAIR Digital Objects across scientific domains, demonstrating exactly the kind of reusable-by-design infrastructure LifeWatch ERIC aims to build for biodiversity and ecosystem data.

In parallel, the project team held a co-design workshop with the weADAPT community – a global knowledge exchange platform for climate change adaptation – to shape two AI-powered tools currently in development: an AI chatbot for exploring the platform’s knowledge base, and an AI-assisted tagging and metadata system.

Towards the end of the summer, FAIR2Adapt partners brought the project’s work to two major events.
Barbara Magagna (GO FAIR Foundation, FAIR2Adapt) participated in a full-day workshop at the ECCB 2026 SIB Communities Day in Geneva, where experts from ELIXIR Europe, CODATA, and SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics compared FAIRification frameworks and stress-tested cross-framework integration across biodiversity, health, and AI domains. Held alongside the European Congress of Conservation Biology, the session put FAIR2Adapt’s approach directly in front of the biodiversity and conservation community that is LifeWatch ERIC’s own core audience, reinforcing alignment between FAIR2Adapt’s framework and LifeWatch ERIC’s FAIRification work. The groups agreed to position their frameworks as complementary components of a unified FAIR ecosystem rather than competing standards.
Lauren Snyder (TIB) presented the TIB Knowledge Loom – an Open Science digital library used in FAIR2Adapt – to the German NFDI (National Research Data Infrastructure) community in a one-hour webinar. Attendees learned how the Knowledge Loom supports the verification and reuse of scientific knowledge, and were among the first to see the freshly launched submission system that allows researchers to publish their work free of charge. Watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/4CR1zDBB2Go

Visit FAIR2Adapt for more information: https://fair2adapt-eosc.eu/index.php/2026/09/17/fair2adapt-enjoyed-a-busy-summer-advancing-fair-tools-for-climate-change-adaptation

European Researchers’ Night 2026: taking science across Europe

European Researchers' Night 2026

On 25 September 2026, LifeWatch ERIC and its Distributed Centres participated in several initiatives of the European Researchers’ Night (#ERN), bringing biodiversity science, research and innovation closer to citizens across Europe.

  • Understanding the importance of marine ecosystems

In Lecce, Italy, the former Olivetani Monastery hosted a series of informative events, such as project booths, documentary projections, and small-scale reconstructions of extremely fascinating scientific experiments. The Marine SABRES project was present with a “Marine SABRES in Fairs” booth.

Visitors could test the Marine SABRES Serious Game, developed by LifeWatch ERIC as an interactive experience designed to explore the complex relationships between human activities, marine ecosystems, and human well-being, while reflecting on the choices and trade-offs involved in achieving a more sustainable future.

The event also featured the screening of “Tides of Balance”, the Marine SABRES documentary directed by Fabrizio Lecce, offering perspectives on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the sustainable use and management of marine ecosystems.

  • Exploring solutions for mine-impacted waters

The ERN in Huelva, Spain, included a series of activities, interactive labs, and dialogues promoted by the University of Huelva with the objective to bring science closer to the public. The RECUP-DAS project was there, and presented a workshop on “Ecological treatment of acid mine drainage”, through the Environmental Mineralogy and Geochemistry Group of the University of Huelva (one of the project partners).

The workshop introduced the technology at the core of RECUP-DAS: Dispersed Alkaline Substrate (DAS), a passive treatment system that can neutralise the acidity of water from mining-impacted sites while efficiently retaining metals.

The technology was developed by researchers of the Tharsis research group at the University of Huelva, and will be applied as part of RECUP-DAS in the surroundings of Mina La Poderosa, by building a new DAS treatment plant within the Tinto and Odiel river basins, historically affected by the presence of metals. A real-time monitoring system developed by LifeWatch ERIC will also support the creation of a digital twin of the treatment plant, demonstrating how digital technologies can contribute to environmental monitoring and research.

  • Learning about the herborisation of algae specimens

In Porto, Portugal, the ERN rolled out with interactive experiences, demonstrations with scientists, games, workshops, and much more. The Portuguese National Distributed Centre of LifeWatch ERIC is managed by PORBIOTA. In Porto, Portugal, PORBIOTA was represented by the Natural History and Science Museum of the University of Porto at the European Researchers’ Night held at the i3S – Institute for Research and Innovation in Health.

As part of the “Bridges for Science” project, the team organised a workshop on the herborisation of algae specimens, offering participants a hands-on opportunity to explore biodiversity research and scientific collections.

Overall, participating in these initiatives across Europe has been a great chance to bring scientific work beyond the research community, where it can open a dialogue with citizens and show the value of biodiversity and ecosystem research to address environmental challenges.

Applications open for the MARBEFES Autumn School 2026: learn to use biodiversity assessment tools!

MARBEFES Autumn School 2026

The MARBEFES project (MARine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning leading to Ecosystem Services) is hosting the new edition of its Autumn School in October 2026, after last year’s very successful event in Seville.

Titled “The MARBEFES Toolbox: from marine diversity to societal value”, the School covers topics such as ecological assessment, socio-cultural and economic valuation, cross-cutting decision-support tools, and their uptake in real management settings.

Particular emphasis is placed on the ecological tools developed by the project, and collected in the MARBEFES Toolbox: over three days, participants will learn how to use the Toolbox for measuring and valuing marine biodiversity, and presenting science-based results to decision-makers. Students will also learn how to use these tools to tackle real marine-management problems.

The School takes place in Lecce, Italy, from 27 to 29 October, and will host 20 participants selected among the applicants, covering travel and accommodation expenses. Day 1 focuses on ecological tools, day 2 broadens out to valuation and cross-cutting tools, and day 3 moves on from project outputs to their uptake, sustainability, and integrated application. The programme includes a welcome aperitif and a social dinner.

Who is it for? MSc students, early-career researchers and PhD, as well as practitioners, marine managers and policy makers at various levels, with a focus or interest in marine biodiversity assessment, ecosystem-services valuation, and decision support. School sessions require a general environmental-science background, while no prior experience with the specific tools is required. Several sessions are hands-on, therefore, participants are encouraged to take an active part in the exercises and group work.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Describe how the MARBEFES Toolbox links marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning to ecosystem services and societal benefits;
  • Apply selected MARBEFES ecological tools to assess biodiversity, ecological structure, functioning and vulnerability;
  • Employ socio-cultural and economic methods to value marine biodiversity in monetary, and non-monetary terms;
  • Illustrate how to run cross-cutting tools such as Bow-Tie Analysis and the HG&OG governance and knowledge-graph approach, to support management decisions;
  • Explain how to design and develop ecological tools to ensure their FAIRness, following the example of the MARBEFES outputs.

More details on the programme, venue, and terms can be found at: https://www.lifewatch.eu/marbefes-autumn-school-2026

Apply now to learn about the societal value of marine biodiversity, and how the MARBEFES Toolbox can support decision-making in this field: https://zfrmz.eu/UUQQaW5B0ThDa276dDGD.

SERE 2026: LifeWatch ERIC attends the European Conference on Ecological Restoration

SERE Conference 2026

Last week, members of LifeWatch ERIC Jorge Osman and Cristina Huertas-Olivares attended the SERE 2026 Conference, the 15th edition of the European Conference on Ecological Restoration, organised by the University of Brest’s Geoarchitecture Laboratory in close collaboration with SER-Europe and the ‘REVER’ network.

The main objective of this event was to share knowledge and strengthen links between stakeholders in ecological restoration, with a focus on ecological, social, and political considerations.

The conference tackled all aspects of restoration, across different types of ecosystems and territories, including some usually less well-integrated topics, such as the restoration of ecological networks (particularly dark infrastructure) and marine ecosystems.

Moreover, the scientific programme dedicated particular attention to the restoration of wetlands and coastal ecosystems, the application of European nature restoration legislation and the implementation of National Restoration Plans.

These topics are particularly relevant to the RECUP-DAS project, which aims to support the restoration and sustainable management of areas affected by mining activities, through an integrated approach that combines ecological restoration, monitoring, data management, and decision-support tools.

In this context, the participation in SERE 2026 provided an opportunity for LifeWatch ERIC members involved in the project to follow the latest developments, experiences and approaches in ecological restoration, and to exchange knowledge with researchers working across different ecosystems.

Jorge Osman, Scientific Project Manager, and member of the RECUP-DAS Project, attended the conference in Brest to learn from the international experiences presented during the event, including a specialised course on “Adaptive Restoration Planning Using DSS-AWERE”. The knowledge and methodologies gained through this training may prove valuable for the RECUP-DAS project, in particular in relation to the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of future ecological restoration actions in the areas affected by mining activities.

Attending SERE 2026 and the specialised training provided an opportunity to broaden the project team’s knowledge, explore relevant approaches, and strengthen connections with the wider ecological restoration community.

RECUP-DAS is co-funded by the European Union through the Andalusia ERDF Programme 2021–2027.

For more information, visit: https://sere2026.sciencesconf.org/?lang=en