The Swedish Species Information Centre – biodiversity and species

Abstract

Species and habitats are important. In order to understand the world we live in, we need to recognise what species there are, how many they are, and how well they are doing. This is practically what the Swedish Species Information Centre does. We accumulate, analyse and disseminate information concerning the species and habitats occurring in Sweden by: • assessing and evaluating the conservation status of the Swedish species, • keeping track of the names of species, habitat types and other terms and concepts pertaining to biodiversity and conservation, • accumulating and disseminating information about findings of individual species, • supporting the implementation of EU regulations, • and by conducting and supporting research in the fields of biodiversity and conservation. We work with commissions from the Swedish Government and other authorities within the field of Swedish biodiversity, frequently in cooperation with various NGOs. We also conduct research in the fields of ecology and conservation. In order to map the diversity in Sweden, The Swedish Taxonomy Initiative works with listing all existing multicellular species in Sweden - a high set goal which we work towards by providing the digital infrastructure, but also through research projects to investigate less well known groups. In the Swedish Species Observation System, data from citizen observations - currently with some 60,000,000 entries - is stored, but we also store data from different research projects through the database Lifewatch. We pass on information about biodiversity and conservation to authorities, researchers, development and industry as well as the general public. A more thorough assessment of the conservation status of Swedish species is done every fifth year as we produce the red-list of endangered species. To summarize, we work for a rich and well known nature.