Welcome to the 31st IUBS General Assembly and Conference on ...

use taxonomic knowledge <strong>and</strong> information in a manner
that assists Parties, o<strong>the</strong>r Governments, organizations
<strong>and</strong> stakeholders in effectively implementing <strong>the</strong>
Convention <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Strategic Plan for Biodiversity
2011‐2020 <strong>and</strong> achieving <strong>the</strong> Aichi Biodiversity Targets.
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) 2011‐2020,
with sixteen updated global targets for plant conservation,
including Target 1 of developing, by 2020, an online Flora
of all known plants.
In order <strong>to</strong> provide sound basis for plant conservation
<strong>and</strong> sustainable use in China, we set up <strong>the</strong> Chinese
Virtual Herbarium (CVH, http://www.cvh.org.cn). The
present CVH (www.cvh.org.cn ) is consisted of four core
functional parts. 1) Chinese Plant Name Catalogue. 2)
Chinese Digital Herbaria. Specimen data set includes type
specimens <strong>and</strong> regular collection data. Presently, <strong>the</strong>re are
about 3.31 million specimen data could be retrieved
through CVH website. 3) Chinese Electronic Flora.
Electronic flora is an online version of all published FRPS
<strong>and</strong> 12 local Chinese Flora; <strong>and</strong> 4) Chinese Plant Pho<strong>to</strong>
Gallery. Chinese plant pho<strong>to</strong> gallery includes more than
900,000 field color pho<strong>to</strong>s, belonging <strong>to</strong> 9800 species
native <strong>to</strong> China. In addition, we also established Chinese
Field Herbarium which includes over 2.3 millions plant
color pho<strong>to</strong>s <strong>and</strong> associated materials. From late 2006,
we started <strong>to</strong> prepare a CD ROM for Catalogue of Life
China. The Catalogue of Life China was planned <strong>to</strong> collect
<strong>the</strong> basic information of all species (plants, animals <strong>and</strong>
microorganisms) distributed in China. All information in
<strong>the</strong> Catalogue of Life China is available <strong>to</strong> all users in <strong>the</strong>
world freely. It serves users in two ways: a website <strong>and</strong> a
CD. The website provides an annual checklist <strong>and</strong> a
dynamic checklist with online query interface, while <strong>the</strong>
CD provides <strong>the</strong> annual checklist only. The current
edition for 2011 contains 65674 species of animals,
plants <strong>and</strong> microbes, including 29947 species of seed
plants, 2273 ferns <strong>and</strong> 2572 bryophytes. Animals are
made up of amphibian (346 species), reptile (403), fish
(3347), bird (1269), mammal (562), spiders (3605) <strong>and</strong>
insects. The National Specimen Information
Infrastructure (NSII) with much broader coverage of
biodiversity information is being established <strong>and</strong> will be
on‐line soon.
Bioinformatics training for life scientists:
EBI's user training programme
Gabriella RUSTICI
EMBL‐EBI, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinx<strong>to</strong>n CB10
1SD, UK.Email: gabry@ebi.ac.uk
The EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute
(EMBL‐EBI) has a deep <strong>and</strong> ongoing commitment <strong>to</strong>
bioinformatics training <strong>and</strong> offers support <strong>to</strong> life
science researchers in <strong>the</strong> use of bioinformatics
resources <strong>and</strong> <strong>to</strong>ols. Here I will present <strong>the</strong> EMBL‐EBI
extremely successful tripartite user‐training
programme, which is comprised of <strong>the</strong> following:
1. The H<strong>and</strong>s on User Training Programme, which
consists of h<strong>and</strong>s‐on courses held at <strong>the</strong> EBI,
providing expert tuition in <strong>the</strong> EBI’s core data
resources. These training events range from courses
aimed at experimental biologists, <strong>to</strong> more specialized
workshops for industrial <strong>and</strong> academic
bioinformaticians.
2. The Bioinformatics Roadshow, which consists of
h<strong>and</strong>s‐on training events around <strong>the</strong> world, where EBI
trainers teach researchers how <strong>to</strong> use <strong>the</strong> EBI’s core
databases most relevant <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir research.
3. Train Online, <strong>the</strong> EMBL‐EBI eLearning platform,
which provides free courses on <strong>the</strong> EMBL‐EBI's most
widely used data resources.
I will also present <strong>the</strong> Bioinformatics Training Network,
a community lead initiative relevant <strong>to</strong> any one involved
in Bioinformatics Training. Ideally this talk will illustrate
<strong>the</strong> project we are currently involved with, <strong>and</strong> provide
an opportunity for discussing community needs <strong>and</strong>
future directions.
Biological consequences of climate change:
arthropod diversity, pest management <strong>and</strong>
food security
Hari SHARMA
International Crops Research Institute for <strong>the</strong> Semi‐Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Email: H.Sharma@cgiar.org
Global warming <strong>and</strong> climate change trigger major
changes in diversity <strong>and</strong> abundance of arthropods,
geographical distribution <strong>and</strong> population dynamics,
herbivore plant interactions, activity <strong>and</strong> abundance of
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