Workshops and Lunchtime Events
Workshops
W 1 Workshop on the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Law on a national level in Germany
Shorttitle: Implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Law
Date: Sunday, 31.08.2025
Time: 09:00 to 13:00
Organizers: Nora Haack (nora.haack@bfn.de)
Fee: Euro 45.00
Minimum number of participants: 15
Maximum number: 50
Description:
The EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) aims to restore degraded ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience across EU member states. Its successful implementation depends on inclusive and transparent participatory processes, ensuring that diverse stakeholders can contribute to decision-making. Scientists play a key role in this process by providing critical data, assessing restoration measures, and ensuring decisions are based on sound science. Their involvement enhances transparency, improves policy effectiveness, and aligns restoration efforts with ecological and socio-economic priorities. Integrating scientific expertise into national implementation fosters evidence-based strategies, strengthens accountability, and ensures long-term success.
As part of the participatory process, this workshop aims to facilitate an exchange of ideas and visions for the successful implementation of the NRL in Germany. A special focus will be placed on discussing necessary monitoring measures, appropriate satisfactory levels for the indicators in Article 11 (agricultural ecosystems) and Article 12 (forest ecosystems), as well as conducting socioeconomic cost-benefit analyses of production-integrated restoration measures. The workshop outcomes will contribute to Germany’s national restoration plan, which will be submitted to the EU Commission.
We invite all interested scientists to participate, particularly those specializing in agroecology, forest ecology, sustainability science, and environmental economics. The workshop will be held in German.
W 2 Practical passive acoustic monitoring with Audiomoth, and construction of acoustic classifiers with opensoundscape
Shorttitle: Passive acoustic monitoring and building acoustic classifiers
Date: Sunday, 31.08.2025
Time: 09:00 – 17:00
Organizers: David Bennett, Brandenburg Technische Universität, david.bennett@b-tu.de
Fee: Euro 55.00
Minimum number of participants: 5
Maximum number of participants: 20
Description:
To meet the central theme of the conference, Ecological Systems Under Pressure: Challenges and Solutions, we propose a workshop dealing with passive acoustic monitoring using Audiomoth. We believe that this method is useful for both academic researchers and conservation practitioners.
Passive acoustic monitoring is a method of monitoring wildlife via their sounds, such as songs or echolocation. It has long been used for bats and has also expanded to other species groups (such as birds and insects). However, until relatively recently it was very expensive, with acoustic detectors costing thousands of euros and analysis of the resulting files being extremely time consuming. New devices such as Audiomoth are much less resource intensive and new software had enabled machine-assisted classification of many thousands of files, reducing the human labour input. New software such as opensoundscape even allows users to develop their own classifiers for novel species groups or previously unstudied regions, which could allow monitoring studies to be conducted for different groups simultaneously or for different researchers/practitioners to collaborate.
We aim that participants in our workshop would emerge with a basic understanding of the principles and practice of conducting a passive acoustic monitoring study. Its strengths and advantages, but also its weaknesses and limitations. We would begin with a classroom introduction of acoustic monitoring and Audiomoths specifically, before going outside (weather permitting) to do practical recording. Finally we would return to the classroom where we would analyse the recordings, and we would then show attendees the basics of constructing their machine learning based classifiers with the “opensoundscape” package, including hands-on assistance with their own files.
W 3 Workshop on concepts for the professional implementation of species detection dogs
Shorttitle: implementation of species detection dogs
Date: : Sunday, 31.08.2025
Time: 09:00-13:00
Organizers: Dipl. Biol. Uta Kielau, K9Hundekunde, info@k9-hundekunde.de
Fee: Euro 45.00
Minimum number of participants: 10
Maximum number of participants: 40
Description:
In the context of the GfÖ25 conference, my workshop aims to address concepts for the professional implementation of species detection dogs in monitoring, research, and mapping. In recent years, the range of training courses for species detection dogs has increased in Germany, though most of these dogs are still trained and worked by their owners on their own initiative. There is no superior, independent authority for standardized and verifiable certification of the teams and there are no guidelines that define minimum requirements for the use of the dogs yet. This workshop is intended to help formulate standards for the inspection and use of these teams.
The workshop starts with an overview of the current situation in Germany. Based on a current study, the difficulties and complexity of working with species detection dogs are presented. Practical examples illustrate the variety of requirements for the teams.
In the subsequent discussion, participants join in to specify requirements for training, inspection and use of species detection dogs from the perspective of researchers, mappers, project developers and authorities. The results will be incorporated into processes for establishing testing and deployment standards.
Lunchtime Events
W 4 Workshop on Transdisciplinarity in Ecological Research
Shorttitle: Better together!
Date: Monday, 01.09.2025
Time: 10:30-12:30
Organizers: Ute Fricke, University of Würzburg, ute.fricke@uni-wuerzburg.de
Tanja Rottstock, Julius Kühn-Institut Kleinmachnow, Tanja.Rottstock@julius-kuehn.de,
Anne-Kathrin Schneider-Hohenbrink, Thünen Institut Braunschweig, anne-kathrin.schneider@thuenen.de
Minimum number of participants: 5
Maximum number of participants: 20
Description:
Halting the loss of biodiversity is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Looking more closely, this is also linked to other challenges, such as mitigating climate change, increasing green infrastructure, reducing environmental toxins (e.g. chemical pesticides), to name but a few. What they all have in common is that they cannot be met by a single individual or discipline, but require - to varying degrees - participation, collaboration, cooperation or collective action. In other words, transdisciplinary projects are needed to address these challenges and find viable solutions. This workshop will create a space for networking and sharing experiences among researchers who work (or want to work) transdisciplinary, complemented by lessons learned from existing transdisciplinary ecological projects and small exercises. In addition to the important aspect of connecting scientists who are willing to break new ground, this workshop aims to provide input on the following questions: How to start a transdisciplinary research project? - How to find, select and engage transdisciplinary partners? - How to facilitate (more) transdisciplinarity in a project from design, conduct to dissemination? - How to run transdisciplinary projects to facilitate transformation?
W 5 Workshop: How to use GFBio’s VAT to combine location with remote sensing data and create a Machine Learning pipeline
Shorttitle: VAT & Geo Engine 4 ML
Date: Tuesday, 02.09.2025
Time: 12:30-14:00
Organizers: Johannes Drönner (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Geo Engine GmbH), johannes.droenner@geoengine.de, Dominik Brandenstein (Philipps-Universität Marburg, NFDI4Biodiversity), dominik.brandenstein@uni-marburg.de, Bernhard Seeger (Philipps-Universität Marburg, NFDI4Biodiversity), seeger@informatik.uni-marburg.de
Target Audience: Master, (Post-)Doc Researcher
Minimum number of participants: 10
Maximum number of participants: 30
Description:
The Visualisation, Analysis and Transformation (VAT) system supports users in NFDI4Biodiversity (https://www.nfdi4biodiversity.org/) and the GFBio search portal (https://search.gfbio.org/) to explore different types of occurrence data. Built on the Geo Engine platform, it also provides features such as raster data processing (e.g., satellite images), raster-vector data fusion, and time series processing. In this workshop, we will use the features of Geo Engine to train a machine learning (ML) model for the distribution of labels from point training data to areas by automatically classifying raster images. We will show an example such as the creation of a forest map generated from a model trained on forest and non-forest locations and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery.
The workshop consists of the following sections: First, we will give an overview of the VAT system and the underlying Geo Engine technology and explain the unique time series processing approach using workflows. Second, we will use the web-based user interface to explore datasets and combine raster and vector data to prepare them for ML model training. Third, we use the Geo Engine Python package to seamlessly transfer the data from the previous step into Python to train and evaluate an ML model. In the last step, the model is uploaded to the system to serve as an operator. This makes the trained model selectable from the UI and Python.
Furthermore, we will provide instructions on setting up the VAT system for other projects and offer participants a hands-on experience with VAT during the workshop. The workshop will conclude with a feedback session.
W 6 Research with impact: Communicating with stakeholders and the public
Shorttitle: Research with impact:
Date: Wednesday, 03.09.2025
Time: 12:30-14:00
Organizers: Rowena Gordon, British Ecological Society, Lorenzo Marini, University of Padua, Italy and maybe Jos Barlow, Lancaster University
Minimum number of participants: 15
Maximum number of participants: 50
Description:
In this workshop, Senior and Associate Editors from British Ecological Society journals will offer guidance for ecologists of all backgrounds and career stages about how to better ensure that your published research paper achieves real-world impact.
The workshop will open with a 30 minute presentation from the facilitators including topics such as:
- Why should you communicate your research?
- Pathways to impact (dissemination via communication channels e.g. traditional media, social media, blogs/podcasts)
- Achieving measurable real-world impact (changes to policy, practice or behaviour and case studies)
- Steps the BES journals are taking to increase visibility of research (drawing on Journal of Applied Ecology’s impact survey and resulting Editorial)
The second half will consist of a Q&A with a possible short exercise aimed at getting participants to think about avenues they could take in achieving their own research impact.
7. Active lunch-break: Biodiversity walk
Date: Thursday, 04.09.2025
Time: 13:00 – approx. 14:00
Organizers: Initiative “Lebendiger Campus”: Sarah Redlich, Johannes Spaethe, Nadja Simons (JMU Würzburg), bz-living_campus@lists.uni-wuerzburg.de
Meeting point: Outside the Conference Location Z6 (Exit towards Am Hubland)
Description:
We invite you to join us for an easy stroll along the “Biodiversity path” across the university campus. The „Biodiversity path“ has been installed at 5 locations by the initiative “Living Campus” (https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/projekte/lebendiger-campus/), highlighting different habitats and actions for biodiversity. The walk will be guided by members of the “Living Campus”, who will tell you about the initiative and share their experiences regarding the monitoring and protection of biodiversity on campus.
