This project, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (see related story) is done in close collaboration with the Brasilian Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA) and aims at mobilizing biodiversity data housed both within the Amazon region as well as in collections elsewhere in the world. As a first step we are conducting a survey to assess where these collections are, their taxonomic coverage and the experts working in those museums or herbaria.

If you are working with Amazonian biodiversity data, or your institution holds specimens from the Amazon, you are cordially invited to fill out a questionnaire that is available in English, Spanish, or Portuguese at www.cria.org.br/abbif/. We also invite you to forward this questionnaire to any of your colleagues who may be involved in Amazonian research. Should you have any further ideas or comments please do not hesitate to send a message to Beatriz Torres at: btorres@gbif.org.