Centre for Biodiversity and Animal Movement established in Gibraltar

The Gibraltar National Museum and the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens have come together in an exciting initiative which sets up Gibraltar’s first Centre for Biodiversity and Animal Movement (GIBCBAM). This initiative carries the full support of the Government’s Department of the Environment and Climate Change.

With ever growing concern about the state of our planet and the loss of biodiversity, GIBCBAM brings together the results and data gathered collectively by the Centre’s researchers. This amounts to an accumulated time of 240 research years. In addition, GIBCBAM holds important historical collections, such as the Wooley-Dodd herbarium which dates to the beginning of the 20^th Century.

Accurate information is at the heart of good research and conservation management, and GIBCBAM holds a large and unique amount of such information, comprising a wide range of taxa including plants, molluscs, insects, reptiles, birds and mammals, which have been individually and collectively gathered by its researchers. Importantly, these data are not exclusive to the present day but, via the research at the Gorham’s Cave Complex UNESCO World Heritage Site, also include a rich source of information about past biodiversity stretching back to at least 120,000 years ago.

GIBCBAM’s aims will be to continue to investigate Gibraltar’s Biodiversity and also the important movements, particularly of vertebrates, across the Strait of Gibraltar in this internationally recognised nexus between Europe and Africa. Recent on-going research, some already published, by the two participating centres, individually and collectively, have included studies of the movement of bats and birds.

The new centre formalises a collaboration between these institutions that has been active for the past ten years. Additionally, GIBCBAM will be open to inviting individual researchers and organisations, not belonging to either institution but who have contributed to our knowledge of Gibraltar’s biodiversity or may hold important datasets, to participate in some of its projects. GIBCBAM expects to make information available to a wide audience, increasing awareness through the publication of accurate and well-contrasted information. A number of exciting projects are planned and these will be announced in due course.

Minister for Environment, the Hon Prof John Cortes, himself an experienced biologist with a track record in research, commented: “This is an exciting initiative coming from two well established bodies which will ensure coordination of research and collation of data on Gibraltar’s important biodiversity. By formally bringing researchers together and reaching out to others, it will no doubt grow in value and interest”.