Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste

The Department of Life Sciences of the University of Trieste is a center of excellence in the study ofterrestrial cryptogams, and has a long experience in the study of vascular plants. The team involved in the project manages and continually update the checklist of lichens of Italy.

In the framework of projectDryades (www.dryades.eu), the team has also acquired a unique expertise in the field of biodiversity informatics, and its applications in Citizen Science campaigns. This expertise led to the creation of several portals devoted to the discovery of local biodiversity of different areas of the country, and to the development of digital systems for the identification of organisms. In few years, the team has published online more than 500 digital identification keys to plants, lichens, fungi, algae, mosses, fish and butterfliesfor different platforms (Internet, CD-ROM, iOS, Android) and in 11 different languages. The team has collaborated to the development, and still plays an important role in the National Biodiversity Network.

The University of Trieste is also a member of the Joint Research Unit of the European InfrastructureLifewatch. It has been the leading partner of the European project KeyToNature (http://www.keytonature.eu), funded in 2007-2010 under the eContent Plus framework. KeyToNaturefocused on the use of digital tools for the identification of organisms, and involved more than 20,000students from 11 European countries.

The team is the leading partner of the ongoing project Interreg Italy/ Slovenia SIIT (www.siit.eu), funded for the period 2011-2014, which focuses on 1) the introductionof the use of digital tools for the identification in schools, and 2) the use of digital tools for the discovery of biodiversity with a Citizen Science approach.

Address
via L. Giorgieri 10, 34127 Trieste, Italy

Contact
Stefano Martellos martelst@units.it

Web page
dsv.units.it