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Summary of the ninth conference of the parties to the convention on migratory species of wild animals and related meetings: 27 november-5 december 2008

The CBD conference raised its curtains in Bonn, Germany. Various CBD documents refer to the GROMS, or to migratory species.

Last call for applications for the UNEP/CMS Thesis Award! The UNEP/CMS Thesis Award on Migratory Species Conservation, sponsored by National Geographic Deutschland and Lufthansa, is now open for applications until May 2008.

News from the CITES conference (June 2007)

GROMS distribution maps prepared for Google Earth
Inspired by our first set of maps, members of the Google Earth community did more work on birds, using our OpenGIS layers (open this kml-file produced by Cybarber). If you enter the GEC discussion thread on bird movements, you will discover other interesting animations and overlays with avian flue outbreak areas. In addition, you can download point distribution data in GE-format from the GBIF website. However, for all these interesting visualisations you need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.
These cooperative efforts go back to Declan Butler, a reporter at Nature who covers avian influenza. Declan Butler has a weblog where he has links to updated Map files:http://declanbutler.info/blog/, or see http://www.nature.com/nature/googleearth/avianflu1.kml (networklink). Subscribe to the migration discussion list, for further information on this work in progress, updates or commentsKR, 23/11/2005

GROMS represented at COP8
The evaluation report for the GROMS has now been published and submitted as document Conf. 8.12 for the 8th CMS Conference of Parties (COP8), together with draft resolution Res. 8.9/Rev 1, recommending (inter alia), to continue with the collaboration with the Zoological Museum Koenig. Download the GROMS Poster for COP8, or other ppt presentations. KR, 2/11/2005

CMS Thesis winner elected
This first event of the UNEP/CMS Thesis Award was very successful. 36 theses have been submitted. Finally 8 laureates were selected and their theses were presented to the Jury. The task was very hard because all these theses were of high scientific value providing solid contributions to conservation.
Birds, Marine mammals and freshwater fish were concerned by the 8 thesis submitted to the Jury. The studies were achieved using both simple and sophisticated methods with a very innovative approach and an integration of socio economical concern for some of them, which is very helpful in the establishment of conservation measures with a scientific sound basis.
The Jury selected as first laureate Zeb Hogan for his work on the migratory giant Catfish in the unique Mekong ecosystem; as second laureate, Carlos Rodriguez for his perceptive study of the respective influences of agricultural intensification and climate variation on the decline of lesser kestrel and as third laureate, Rodrigo Hucke-Gaete for his study of the Blue whale in Chilean waters which resulted, in particular in the discovery of essential breeding ground for this endangered species
I would like to personally congratulate the laureates and wish them a successful future in their work. Statement by Jury-member Dr. Marie van Klaveren (ACCOBAMS-Secretariat, Monaco) -More Information and pictures of the Jury see

Multilingual search for migratory fishes
More than 1,000 fish species migrate! A prototype for multilingual search has been developed by directing users to the Fishbase common name database, which contains 207,200 common names! You can test this tool by entering any common fish name. Your request is directed to FishBase, and the scientific name is extracted and fed back into GROMS, which analyses the migratory status of the species, using the scientific name. If it is not migratory, you are re-directed to FishBase. This process takes some time, but greatly enhances our Register of Migratory Species, which is based on scientific names, and "only" contains common names in English, French and Spanish. Try to search for "Alacciotta", the Italian name for the ocenaodromous gilt sardine Sardinella aurita. K.R., 28/06/05

Direct links to IUCN Red List and BirdLife Factsheets
unfortunately, the Inernational REd List gets longer and longer! Results from IUCN assessments in 2004 also list migratory species which moved into the highest category before extinction and now are CR -Critically Endangered, as for example the Giant catfish, a migratory fish listed on CMS App I. GROMS species reports contain and allow to search for Red List status as assessed in 2000, but now provide a direkt link to the IUCN database, launching the 2004 status for the respective species, by clicking on the Red List link (try). In addition, we provided a direct link to BirdLife factsheets, for all threatened migratory birds (try). Note that BirdLife Internationalis the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN, which means that the latest 2005 conservation status is provided. K.R., 23/06/05

Update of GROMS Literature Database
Nearly 6,000 references are now available, thanks to additional input by contributors, through our new online entry tool! E.G., 07/06/05

Additional maps available through dynamic link with GBIF map services

The Global Register of Migratory Species (GROMS) is now offering two types of maps: one showing general distribution (GROMS map), and a second map based on point observations (GBIF map), by linking dynamically to GBIF services. Clicking on the GBIF map link for the first time, you will be asked to accept the terms of copyright. Once accepted, the map will be launched. Note that this can take some time, depending on the number of points displayed. By arranging both map windows on your desktop, you can compare both maps. Point data indicated by GBIF are more precise, but you will easily notice that coverage is incomplete, especially in remote wintering areas. Launch examples map for the barn swallow - Hirundo rustica

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by Klaus Riede

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