Capacity building workshop on niche modelling and species' IUCN status assessments

for more efficient efforts in plant conservation

EnvPro is hosting a workshop “Capacity Building Workshop for IUCN Categorization, Species Conservation Planning, Niche Modeling and Ex situ Conservation”, through the ongoing project “Conservation of rare, threatened and endemic species on Mt. Orjen”, implemented in partnership with the University Primorska.

The workshop aims to show how data on rare and endangered plants collected during the Orjen Mountain research activities in 2019 can be used to create species distribution maps and to apply IUCN Red List assessments. In addition, in situ and ex situ conservation measures will be discussed for later implementation of germination protocols. Participants will be introduced to theoretical knowledge before learning how to perform key analyses. The event will consist of a hands-on approach, including group and individual work, and participants will have the opportunity to gain recognition of their level of understanding. The official language of the workshop will be Serbo-Croatian. The trainers of the workshop are Boštjan Surina (Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska) and Petar Glasnović (Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska).

The topics of the workshop are going to be:

  • Data processing Learn how to process and format data to make it ‘fit-for-purpose’ with different data cleaning tools
  • Mapping Standards and Protocols Learn IUCN mapping standards for producing species distribution maps; assessment of species abundance and area of occupancy
  • Ecological Niche Modelling Introduction to running and interpreting a basic ecological model to determine the distribution of the targeted species
  • Assessing the conservation status of a species Learn how to apply criteria of the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria using spatial data
  • Seed bank establishment and other ex situ activities Apply different methods and equipment in cryopreservation; properly collect seeds for long-term cryopreservation; conduct germination protocol
  • Species conservation Learn how to design species conservation plans and apply the knowledge to implement the conservation of the targeted species; possibly visit Piperi where there is a potential EnvPro botanical garden site.

Conditions for participation in the workshop:

  • Attendance on all workshop days (3 days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday),
  • Personal computer available for use during the workshop or if not, the willingness to share it with another participant,
  • Installation and proper functioning of QGIS, R and RStudio software on your personal computer before the workshop (we will send detailed instructions for this part - after you have been accepted for participation). If the mentioned software does not work but you are accepted to the workshop - we will find a new solution for your participation,
  • The working language of the workshop is Serbo-Croatian, but we expect you to have some level of English as the all the software is in English, the niche modeling program (maxent) and the IUCN stauts assesment documentation.

You can sign up for the workshop by sending an email to: office@envpro.me, with your CV and a description of the motivation for participating in the workshop. The workshop will be held from 27.02. - 01.03. or 12.03. - 15.03. in Podgorica, and participants accepted for participation will receive the agenda and exact information as soon as possible.

Conservation of endemic, rare and threatened plant species on Mt. Orjen

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