In November 2015, the bursting of the dam of a mining company caused one of the largest environmental disasters ever recorded in Brazil. Over 60 billion liters of mining tailings reached the Doce River basin, and mud flooded the river and its tributaries, causing irreversible damage to the environment. RNP’s web conference platform helped researchers co-ordinate their response to this disaster.
Biotelemetry technology for wildlife and fish monitoring has evolved tremendously since the 1990’s: from moose and reindeer wearing collars with primitive radio transmitters weighing several kilos, to salmon with miniscule bio-sensors, and eagles wearing solar powered GPS-backpacks. But there’s a gap between the volumes of data available and the tools for handing it.
Doñana National Park in Andalusia Spain is one of the world’s most fascinating nature reserves, a mosaic of ecosystems and home to unique and endangered species. The Park is connected to LifeWatch, a joint European e-infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem research, which enables scientists to access a vast array of data from multiple resources in real time to learn about the environment.