You are invited to participate in a global initiative to develop a common schema for managing plant-pollinator interaction data. The global community, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, has recognized the importance of pollinators to ecosystem health and sustainable agriculture. In order to better understand pollination and how to conserve and manage it, we need to capture more information about plant-pollinator interactions.

People have been observing the process of pollination for centuries, but only now do we have new data management tools that may help to share and compile information on plant and pollinator interactions, so that overall trends can be better documented. However, we need a common schema for pollinator interaction data that allows us to share and compile data and use them to identify trends. The definition of that schema is the main objective of this global initiative in which we invite you to participate.

If you have expertise in pollinators/pollination, your contribution is most important. We already have colleagues from many countries and continents that have joined and submitted their suggestions and comments, but you are an important player in this community and that is why we would like to have you involved in this initiative, which is supported by FAO, IABIN, and FAPESP.

If you would like to contribute/participate in this activity, please download these documents and follow the instructions:

Best regards,

Antonio Saraiva (e-mail: saraiva@usp.br), on behalf of:
Antonio Saraiva / University of Sao Paulo
Barbara Gemmill-Herren / FAO
Mike Ruggiero / Smithsonian Institution

Dr. Antonio Mauro Saraiva
Professor
University of São Paulo - School of Engineering
Computing and Digital Systems Engineering Dept.
Agricultural Automation Laboratory
Ph: +55-11-3091-5366 (Brazil)
Fax: +55-11-3091-5294 (Brazil)
Email: amsaraiv(at)usp.br
URL: http://www.laa.pcs.poli.usp.br
Personal URL: http://www.pcs.usp.br/~amsaraiv/