Belgium

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Contacts

LifeWatch Belgium

Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ),
InnovOcean site,
Wandelaarkaai 7, 8400 Ostend, Belgium

Belgium joined LifeWatch ERIC in 2017 and it contributes to LifeWatch ERIC through its National Distributed Centre.

Notwithstanding its relatively small territory, Belgium has a remarkable diversity of habitats and species, and has a rich tradition of biodiversity and ecosystem research, both within and outside of its borders.

Since the start of LifeWatch, Belgium has been a committed country that actively contributes through a number of long-term projects managed by different research centres and universities across the country and supported by the respective political authorities.

What We Do

BopCo

The Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern (BopCo) provides, upon request, identifications of organisms or derived tissues and products of policy concern.

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Species Information Backbone

The service that facilitates the standardisation and integration of species data and provides access to information on species taxonomy, biogeography, genetics and traits (habitat, morphology, vulnerability, etc.).

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Marine Freshwater Terrestrial Observatory

Integrated observation systems that generate long-term and openly accessible biodiversity data applying innovative approaches (imaging, acoustics, genomics, tagging and tracking, artificial intelligence, citizen science).

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Thematic Remote sensing

An interactive geoportal provides thematic pan-European remote sensing data. An object-based ecotope database integrates geographic data for Belgium. Moreover, biophysical variables are available for the South Pole.

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Antarctic Biodiversity Portal

The Antarctic Biodiversity Portal (biodiversity.aq) works closely with the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) to provide access to data and tools for understanding Antarctic marine and terrestrial biodiversity.

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Organisation

LifeWatch.be or the National Distributed Centre for LifeWatch Belgium combines the regional and federal LifeWatch contributions from Belgium.

The Flemish contribution is shaped by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), and funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). The contribution of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation is a collaborative research program between scientists of the Earth and Life Institute (Université catholique de Louvain) and the Biosystems Engineering Department (Université de Liège/Gembloux-ABT). The federal contributions (Biodiversity.aq, BopCo) are coordinated by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) and are funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The federal authority also supports the Belgian Biodiversity Platform to set-up and animate a LifeWatch scientific node. BELSPO also funds the annual monetary contribution to the ERIC.

VLIZ is national focal point for the LifeWatch.be distributed center.

This leaflet presents the LifeWatch Belgium Distributed Centre, its main activities and organisational structure.

You can browse the leaflet online (full screen mode is available in the control bar) or download it by clicking on the three dots icon.

Projects

Genetic tool for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region (GEANS)

European Tracking Network (ETN)

World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)

JERICO-NEXT

EMODnet Biology

Land Cover Climate Change Initiative (CCI LC)

ASSEMBLE Plus

Biodiversity Virtual e-Laboratory (BioVeL)

GlobCorine

ENVRI-FAIR

News from LifeWatch Belgium

Catalogue of Life turns 20

The Catalogue of Life (COL) is the result of international collaboration, providing researchers, policymakers, environmental managers, and the wider public with a consistent and up-to-date index of the names of all the world’s known species. COL originated in 2001 as a partnership between the organisations Species 2000 and the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), and is now curated by an international community of 165 taxonomic data sources. In 2021, the COL turned 20, and with the release of the 2021 Annual Checklist (Bánki et al. 2021, July, 2021), has reached just over 2 million accepted species names. Over the past years LifeWatch Belgium, as part...

European Tracking Network for fish reaches 500 million detections

In recent years, fish tracking technology has revolutionised our knowledge on fish migration and behaviour. The LifeWatch initiative, the European Tracking Network (ETN), integrates the European efforts of hundreds of users, dealing with thousands of tagged fish from a multitude of species. It is powered by LifeWatch Belgium through VLIZ and INBO, and supported by numerous partners throughout Europe. These combined efforts have culminated in a striking milestone: 500 million detections have been reached, imparting invaluable information on fish species such as the Atlantic bluefin tuna, European seabass and sturgeon. There is a large and growing number of researchers using biotelemetry to study...

WoRMS endorsed as ‘Project Action’ for the Ocean Decade

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive list of names of marine organisms, including information on synonymy. This register, which is hosted by VLIZ, a member of LifeWatch Belgium, has received endorsement by the Ocean Decade as a 'Project Action'. In early October 2021, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (‘Ocean Decade’), endorsed 94 new Decade Actions across all ocean basins, all of them contributing in some way to the central vision of “the science we need for the ocean we want”. Earlier in 2021, the WoRMS Steering Committee and the...

Keeping up with LifeWatch Belgium

There's been a lot going on at LifeWatch Belgium recently, so please flick through some of our favourite news stories from the LifeWatch Belgium website, where you can find the full versions of these featured articles. Source images: CATREIN, PBARN & Alvesgaspar. PhD research reveals wild boar behaviour Jolien Wevers successfully defended her PhD research on wild boar and roe deer ecology in a human-dominated landscape at Hasselt University Jolien used the LifeWatch camera trap infrastructure (CATREIN) to investigate how wild boar and roe deer cope with human disturbance in a strongly urbanised environment at different temporal and geographical scales, and at different levels...

Keeping up with LifeWatch Belgium

LifeWatch Belgium has been busy over the last few months, so enjoy a round-up of some of their best stories. You can read more news from LifeWatch Belgium, including the full versions of these featured articles, on their website. Source images: Alice Schumacher (Natural History Museum Vienna), MarineRegions.org & UN.org. WoRMS honoured with new genus The World Register of Marine Species, better known as WoRMS, is hosted by VLIZ, which is a member of LifeWatch Belgium. For the first time, in recognition of the platform's contribution to taxonomy research, a genus has been named after the Register: Wormsina. Harzhauser & Landau established the genus...

VLIZ recruiting marine researcher

The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) is looking to hire a researcher to join its Marine Observation Centre with immediate start. The ideal candidate would have a PhD in marine sciences (or equivalent) to further LifeWatch Belgium's work in fish tracking research. Valued qualities also include being able to work both independently and in a team, as well as strong organisational skills and an enthusiasm for collaborative international research, particularly offshore fieldwork. Applications for this two-year contract will be accepted up to and including 7 May 2021.For more information on this vacancy, please click here.

Migrating bats to benefit from reinforced tracking system

The new antenna station in the Wenduine water tower, near the popular tourist destination of Ostend on the Flemish North Sea coast, is gathering data to better understand and protect bat migration routes as part of the wider wildlife tracking network known as Motus.

LifeWatch Flanders ready for the next level

The Flemish LifeWatch Consortium kicked off a new project phase on 1 January 2021, secure that additional funding had been approved to provide continuing support to biodiversity data systems and observation infrastructure. Confirmation of success in its bid for the 2020 International Research Infrastructure funding, organised by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and financed by the Flemish Department of Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI) was announced on 16 December 2020. A virtual meeting on 5 January 2021 of the Flemish LifeWatch partners, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), was attended by 35 enthusiastic team members...

World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2020

The World Conference on Marine Biodiversity 2020 was successfully presented online between Sunday 13 – Wednesday 15 December 2020, by the University of Auckland, New Zealand. A state-of-the-art virtual conference platform, that facilitated interactive plenary sessions, live panel discussions, filmed presentations, e-posters, a meeting hub and virtual exhibition areas, attracted over 400 participants. LifeWatch ERIC was privileged to be able to support the international event as platinum sponsor. Chief Executive Officer Christos Arvanitidis, in a pre-recorded video message broadcast at the start of proceedings, warmly welcomed the participants, wishing them good luck and a great remote conference, inviting them to support the United...

LifeWatch Belgium 3rd Users & Stakeholders Meeting

LifeWatch Belgium: a highly innovative infrastructure for biodiversity research. Interaction at the third edition of the LifeWatch.be Users & Stakeholders Meeting, 15-16 October 2020, took place entirely online, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. LifeWatch Belgium is a high-technology virtual laboratory for biodiversity research, and the Belgian LifeWatch community meet every year to showcase progress made. Open to all users and stakeholders of the infrastructure, the event this year attracted 100 registrations from a multitude of Belgian research institutes, universities and policy bodies, who were pleased to find the proceedings interesting and insightful. After an introduction from Klaas Deneudt of the Flanders Marine...

Rare European Pine Marten captured by the camera trap network

The camera trap network CATREIN recently captured a European pine marten on image in Heverleebos, a forest south of the city of Leuven, Belgium. The main purpose of the camera traps installed in the area is to study the presence and distribution of wild boar. To make that possible, cameras are positioned randomly in the larger area of Meerdaalwoud, Heverleebos and the Dijle valley. The camera locations are changed monthly, in collaboration with the local hunters and a nature conservation NGO. The image annotation process is done in Agouti. Recently, one of the cameras in Heverleebos unexpectedly filmed a European pine...

LifeWatch Species Information Backbone

The LifeWatch Species Information Backbone (LW-SIBb) facilitates the standardisation of species data and the (virtual) integration of many distributed biodiversity data repositories and operating facilities. Built on expert-validated and literature-based information, the LW-SIBb is structured in different open data systems for taxonomy, biogeography, genetics and species traits. It is the driving force behind the species information services of the Belgian LifeWatch.be e-Lab. Several taxonomic data systems, species registers, nomenclatures and taxonomy-related projects contribute to the LifeWatch Species Information Backbone. They all help to make the Species Information Backbone more complete, either by an active collaboration to fill gaps, opening their...

Ten remarkable new marine species from 2019

As in previous years, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) has again released the annual list of the top-ten marine species described by researchers during the year 2019 to coincide with World Taxonomist Appreciation day – 19 March! Every day in labs, museums, out on fieldwork, taxonomists are busy collecting, cataloguing, identifying, comparing, describing and naming species new to science. Some 500 experts globally also contribute their valuable time to keeping the World Register of Marine Species up to date. Today is a chance for us at WoRMS to thank all our editors for this important task. And we celebrate the...

Marine Industry Workshop

On 23 January 2020, the LifeWatch team at VLIZ, the Flanders Marine Institute, organised a full day consultation with a number of interested international engineering and environmental firms at the first LifeWatch Maritime Industry Workshop in Ostend, Belgium. The organisations represented included the Jan De Nul Group, DEME, Maritech, Haedes, the Antea Group, Blue Cluster and Arcadis. The day's proceedings afforded LifeWatch Belgium the opportunity to present its marine observatory, sensor networks and data systems, illustrated by use cases that highlighted the industrial use of LifeWatch data, services and expertise. The interactive discussion that followed provided some interesting ideas on...

5th LifeWatch ERIC General Assembly

The Dirk Bouts Building in the Flemish Administrative Centre (VAC) in Leuven, Belgium, was the scene for the 5th LifeWatch ERIC General Assembly, from 11–12 December 2019, chaired by Gert Verreet. Composed of the representatives from all full Member States and observers, the purpose of General Assembly Meetings, the highest governing body of LifeWatch ERIC, is to set the overall direction and to supervise the development and operation of LifeWatch ERIC. At the heart of this 5th General Assembly lies the prototype of the LifeWatch ERIC Platform, an integrated initiative of LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities presented by the CTO, Dr...