The BINCO platform
Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation npo is a platform to develop projects that increase our understanding of biodiversity on this planet to facilitate nature conservation. BINCO relies on volunteers to reach its mission and biodiversity projects are only possible thanks to many helping hands. The overall philosophy is to empower volunteers through capacity building while contributing to the broader perspective.
Participation is possible in several ways and any contribution is valuable; you could for instance set up your own project from scratch, assist in ongoing surveys, prepare samples for identification, help organise receipts, update the website… Every step requires considerable effort and often specific skills. BINCO can help you develop the skills needed to set up your own projects. This page provides a non-exhaustive overview of some ongoing opportunities for BINCO members to engage in. For more options, please attend our Skype-friendly monthly meetings (every last Friday of the month).
Biodiversity Projects
BINCO is unique in offering the possibility to develop your own project. The core of our projects involves standardised data collection and description of biodiversity.
Data availability
The value of collected biodiversity data is directly related to its availability for further study and decision making. BINCO strives towards making data available through data-rich expedition reports and publication of observations in scientific journals. Large amounts of data are locked in natural history museum collections and BINCO helps to free these up.
Awareness
Informing the broad public about the importance of biodiversity and its conservation is essential. BINCO aims to make the connection with a wide range of stakeholders as close as possible.
Fieldwork preparation
BINCO members that are keen to develop their own project can join this workshop. Ideally you have a project in mind and a couple of rough ideas written out, but everybody at any stage of project development is welcome. During this workshop you will be guided to focus and develop your project, select funding possibilities and start writing an application.
When: 31 October 2020
Duration: afternoon (14.00-18.00)
Location: to be determined
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
BINCO projects are centered around biodiversity assessment and a wide range of techniques are used to collect different taxonomic groups. During a full week-end we will teach you how to set up and use a wide variety of traps and survey methods; from camera-traps to Winkler, Malaise, and pitfall traps up to aquatic surveys.
Exploratory phase, if interested please contact Merlijn Jocque.
Biodiversity projects often involve fieldwork. This course will provide an introduction to some basic skills to help you in daily life ‘on-site’ including machete handling, tent and hammock set-up, camp skills, functioning in a team and safety. The course is outsourced, but BINCO members get a reduction.
Exploratory phase, if interested please contact Merlijn Jocque.
Sample processing
BINCO biodiversity surveys, whether in Belgium or in the tropics, often use broad spectrum trapping methods. Sorting samples in large taxonomic groups and selecting the target study groups is an intensive but exciting work. We are always looking for people to help out.
When: 4 sessions yearly, dates to be determined
Duration: 20.00h onwards
Location: Leuven
Contact: Christiaan Ceusters
In preparation for identification to species level and deposition of the samples in Musea, collected beetles need to be fixed in a standardised position. This is a tedious but highly rewarding venture. Here, you will learn how to correctly pin beetles and simultaneously help with the preparation of BINCO samples.
When: 2 sessions yearly, dates to be determined
Duration: evening / week-end
Location: to be determined
Contact: Martijn Van Roie
In preparation for identification to species level and deposition of the samples in Musea, moths and butterflies collected on BINCO expeditions need to be prepared. These are probably some of the more difficult insect groups to set. In this workshop you will learn how to correctly prepare Lepidoptera and help with the preparation of BINCO samples.
When: to be determined
Duration: whole day
Location: RBINS
Contact: Jonas Merckx
Species identification
MyrmEcoDex is our ant workgroup. Their current work focuses on identification of material collected in Honduras. Tasks involve pinning as well as identification of the specimens. No expertise is required and anybody with an interest in ants is welcome. More info on the dedicated MyrmEcoDex page.
When: every two months, dates to be determined
Duration: 4 hours
Location: RBINS or ‘Bioruimte’ UA
Contact: Frederik De Wint
Taxonomic expertise is crucial within BINCO. The spider workgroup currently focuses on sorting spiders from Madagascar to family level. No expertise is needed and anybody with an interest in spiders is welcome. More info on the dedicated SpiDivERse page.
When: every two months, dates to be determined
Duration: 4 hours
Location: to be determined
Contact: Brogan Pett
Syritta is our hoverfly (Syrphidae) workgroup. They aim to assist in ongoing hoverfly studies, to support in identifying stored specimens and to actively monitor and survey hoverflies around the world. More info on the dedicated Syritta page.
When: to be determined depending on projects
Location: depending on projects
Contact: syritta@binco.eu or Seppe Strybos
The BINCO Species Description Pipeline breaks the description of new species up into small building blocks and provides a guided sequence that ends with the description of a new species. BINCO members are invited to specialise and take responsibility for any of these blocks.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Digitisation projects
Through digitisation of museum collections we free up hidden species data, link them to our ongoing expeditions and provide valuable pictures of species for third party organisations. This way we tackle the digitisation lag and form valuable networks with experts worldwide.
When: year round
Location: RBINS or RMCA
Contact: Martijn Van Roie & Jan Mertens
We have several ongoing projects. Contact us for more information.
Publication
We are always looking for people to help write up project results and publish gathered information in peer-reviewed scientific journals. BINCO members interested in helping with this process are welcome to participate and together we’ll find the most fitting topic.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Every Biodiversity Express Survey (BES) requires a detailed report at the end of the project that summarises the findings. These reports are dynamic: they get updated as information becomes available. This takes a lot of time and we are always looking for people to help write and/or update BES reports.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Once a year, a newsletter with an overview of BINCO activities and achievements is prepared. BINCO members keen to help with this overview are warmly invited to help.
When: December yearly
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Outreach
We are looking for people to help prepare press releases of our projects’ major findings. Since this is an important part of outreach we are looking for people that have professional experience writing press releases.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Raising awareness about the importance for biodiversity cannot start early enough. BINCO is looking into producing a series of children’s books with biodiversity playing a central role. We are looking for people to both write and illustrate these.
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
A yearly recurring event is the BINCO quiz in which teams answer trivia questions and compete for a diversity of prizes. Every year we are looking for volunteers to help with both the preparation as the actual organisation of this event.
When: Nov/Dec yearly
Contact: Arne Mertens
Managing an ever-growing website can at times be a lot of work for one person. Anyone with experience with the Wordpress-platform and a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS is welcomed to contact us.
Contact: Jan Mertens
Fieldwork preparation
BINCO members that are keen to develop their own project can join this workshop. Ideally you have a project in mind and a couple of rough ideas written out, but everybody at any stage of project development is welcome. During this workshop you will be guided to focus and develop your project, select funding possibilities and start writing an application.
When: 31 October 2020
Duration: afternoon (14.00-18.00)
Location: to be determined
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
BINCO projects are centered around biodiversity assessment and a wide range of techniques are used to collect different taxonomic groups. During a full week-end we will teach you how to set up and use a wide variety of traps and survey methods; from camera-traps to Winkler, Malaise, and pitfall traps up to aquatic surveys.
Exploratory phase, if interested please contact Merlijn Jocque.
Biodiversity projects often involve fieldwork. This course will provide an introduction to some basic skills to help you in daily life ‘on-site’ including machete handling, tent and hammock set-up, camp skills, functioning in a team and safety. The course is outsourced, but BINCO members get a reduction.
Exploratory phase, if interested please contact Merlijn Jocque.
Sample processing
BINCO biodiversity surveys, whether in Belgium or in the tropics, often use broad spectrum trapping methods. Sorting samples in large taxonomic groups and selecting the target study groups is an intensive but exciting work. We are always looking for people to help out.
When: 4 sessions yearly: 28 June, 12 Sep, 22 Nov 2020
Duration: 20.00h onwards
Location: Leuven
Contact: Christiaan Ceusters
In preparation for identification to species level and deposition of the samples in Musea, collected beetles need to be fixed in a standardised position. This is a tedious but highly rewarding venture. Here, you will learn how to correctly pin beetles and simultaneously help with the preparation of BINCO samples.
When: 2 sessions yearly, dates to be determined
Duration: evening / week-end
Location: to be determined
Contact: Martijn Van Roie
In preparation for identification to species level and deposition of the samples in Musea, moths and butterflies collected on BINCO expeditions need to be prepared. These are probably some of the more difficult insect groups to set. In this workshop you will learn how to correctly prepare Lepidoptera and help with the preparation of BINCO samples.
When: to be determined
Duration: whole day
Location: RBINS
Contact: Jonas Merckx
Species identification
Myrmecodex is our ant workgroup. Their current work focuses on identification of material collected in Honduras (more info). Tasks involve pinning as well as identification of the specimens. No expertise is required and anybody with an interest in ants is welcome.
When: every two months, dates to be determined
Duration: 4 hours
Location: RBINS or ‘Bioruimte’ UA
Contact: Frederik De Wint
Taxonomic expertise is crucial within BINCO. The spider workgroup currently focuses on sorting spiders from Madagascar to family level. No expertise is needed and anybody with an interest in spiders is welcome.
When: every two months, dates to be determined
Duration: 4 hours
Location: to be determined
Contact: Christiaan Ceusters
The BINCO Species Description Pipeline breaks the description of new species up into small building blocks and provides a guided sequence that ends with the description of a new species. BINCO members are invited to specialise and take responsibility for any of these blocks.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Data availability
The value of collected biodiversity data is directly related to its availability for further study and decision making. BINCO strives towards making data available through data-rich expedition reports and publication of observations in scientific journals. Large amounts of data are locked in natural history museum collections and BINCO helps to free these up.
Awareness
Informing the broad public about the importance of biodiversity and its conservation is essential. BINCO aims to make the connection with a wide range of stakeholders as close as possible.
Digitisation projects
Through digitisation of museum collections we free up hidden species data, link them to our ongoing expeditions and provide valuable pictures of species for third party organisations. This way we tackle the digitisation lag and form valuable networks with experts worldwide.
When: year round
Location: RBINS or RMCA
Contact: Martijn Van Roie & Jan Mertens
We have several ongoing projects. Contact us for more information.
Publication
We are always looking for people to help write up project results and publish gathered information in peer-reviewed scientific journals. BINCO members interested in helping with this process are welcome to participate and together we’ll find the most fitting topic.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Every Biodiversity Express Survey (BES) requires a detailed report at the end of the project that summarises the findings. These reports are dynamic: they get updated as information becomes available. This takes a lot of time and we are always looking for people to help write and/or update BES reports.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Once a year, a newsletter with an overview of BINCO activities and achievements is prepared. BINCO members keen to help with this overview are warmly invited to help.
When: December yearly
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Outreach
We are looking for people to help prepare press releases of our projects’ major findings. Since this is an important part of outreach we are looking for people that have professional experience writing press releases.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Raising awareness about the importance for biodiversity cannot start early enough. BINCO is looking into producing a series of children’s books with biodiversity playing a central role. We are looking for people to both write and illustrate these.
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
A yearly recurring event is the BINCO quiz in which teams answer trivia questions and compete for a diversity of prizes. Every year we are looking for volunteers to help with both the preparation as the actual organisation of this event.
When: Nov/Dec yearly
Contact: Arne Mertens
Managing an ever-growing website can at times be a lot of work for one person. Anyone with experience with the Wordpress-platform and a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS is welcomed to contact us.
Contact: Jan Mertens
We are looking for BINCO members to help with our presence on social media. BINCO is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but is looking to increase its activity. In the first instance, we are looking for people that can help extract information from ongoing projects and help prepare posts.
Contact: Merlijn Jocque & Jan Mertens
Awareness
Informing the broad public about the importance of biodiversity and its conservation is essential. BINCO aims to make the connection with a wide range of stakeholders as close as possible.
Outreach
We are looking for people to help prepare press releases of our projects’ major findings. Since this is an important part of outreach we are looking for people that have professional experience writing press releases.
When: year round
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
Raising awareness about the importance for biodiversity cannot start early enough. BINCO is looking into producing a series of children’s books with biodiversity playing a central role. We are looking for people to both write and illustrate these.
Contact: Merlijn Jocque
A yearly recurring event is the BINCO quiz in which teams answer trivia questions and compete for a diversity of prizes. Every year we are looking for volunteers to help with both the preparation as the actual organisation of this event.
When: Nov/Dec yearly
Contact: Arne Mertens
Managing an ever-growing website can at times be a lot of work for one person. Anyone with experience with the Wordpress-platform and a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS is welcomed to contact us.
Contact: Jan Mertens
We are looking for BINCO members to help with our presence on social media. BINCO is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but is looking to increase its activity. In the first instance, we are looking for people that can help extract information from ongoing projects and help prepare posts.
Contact: Merlijn Jocque & Jan Mertens
We are looking for BINCO members to help with our presence on social media. BINCO is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but is looking to increase its activity. In the first instance, we are looking for people that can help extract information from ongoing projects and help prepare posts.
Contact: Merlijn Jocque & Jan Mertens