Today, the new Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL) has been constituted, starting with more than two thousand professionals from Spain and Portugal from all areas of ecology in terrestial and water ecosystems. The signature was made this afternoon at the Institut de Ciències de Mar de Barcelona (ICM-CSIC), which host SIBECOL.
Today, the new Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL) has been constituted, starting with more than two thousand professionals from Spain and Portugal from all areas of ecology in terrestial and water ecosystems. The signature was made this afternoon at the Institut de Ciències de Mar de Barcelona (ICM-CSIC), which host SIBECOL.
This new partnership has been promoted by four Spanish and Portuguese scientific associations, the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AEET), the Iberian Association of Limnology (AIL), the Sociedade Portuguesa de Ecología (SPECO) and the Spanish Society of Ethology and Evolutionary Ecology (SEEEE), with the support of an important representation of the community of marine scientists that were not yet grouped in any national society. "Joining in the same society researchers dedicated to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems will allow for a greater collaboration among experts. This collaboration is essential to face, in an optimal way, scientific and social challenges, and especially those related to global change",
says Cèlia Marrasé, scientific researcher at the ICM-CSIC and current president of SIBECOL.
Among the main challenges facing this new society of Iberian ecologists and ecologists there is the great problem of environmental sustainability, consequence, among other factors, of the loss of biodiversity, the effects of climate change, the deterioration of water quality or the change of uses and fragmentation of the territory. Therefore, one of the main purposes of SIBECOL is to work together to understand terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and develop initiatives to improve the management of the natural environment, as well as mitigate the negative impact on ecosystems and resources that they offer to society.
A common voice to influence at a national and international level
"Unity is strength", as defended by Adolfo Cordero, president of SEEEE. This is reflected in the statutes of SIBECOL, which has the objective of reinforce collaboration between ecologists in all areas of the Iberian Peninsula, in order to "constitute a common voice capable of influencing decisions on national and international environmental policy", in words of Francisco Lloret president of the AEET. In this regard, Maria Amélia Martins-Loução, president of SPECO, also points out several of the advantages of increasing the critical mass of Iberian ecologists in order to "achieve a greater international projection of research carried out and a greater weight in the defense and dissemination of ecological values and of sustainability at the Iberian level". Also Antonio Camacho, until a few days ago president of the Iberian Association of Limnology (AIL) and promoter of SIBECOL, points out that "the specificity of the Mediterranean ecosystems, the great biodiversity that hosts the Iberian Peninsula, and the intensity of the interactions between terrestrial ecosystems, continental and marine waters, it is essential to work together in our geographical environment for the maintenance of natural values, the services provided by nature, and the improvement of
sustainability of human actions", words ratified by the new president of the AIL, Núria Bonada.
One of the main objectives of this new Society is also to spread among society and institutions the knowledge of a very large group of scientists experts in the field of Ecology. According to Francisco Lloret: "the creation of this new society will allow promoting actions in interlocution with the administration and citizens to provide information and
support in environmental decision making", he says.
SIBECOL will hold its first Congress in February 2019
SIBECOL will kick off with a congress from the 4th to the 7th of February 2019, coinciding with the centenary of the birth of Ramón Margalef, considered pioneer and "father" of ecology in Spain. The event will be held at the University of Barcelona (UB), place where the distinguished ecologist performed his teaching and research. It will also have the support of the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of Girona (UdG), the Institut Català de Recerca de l'Aigua (ICRA), the Institut or Marine Science (ICM-CSIC) and the Center d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC). This congress will also correspond to the XIV Congress of the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AEET).
SIBECOL will organize all kinds of educational activities and scientific studies on ecology such as this Congress, in addition to the creation of working groups for the development of knowledge and methods, or the management of publications and other dissemination systems through the scientific journals Ecosistemas, Ecologi@, Limnetica and Scientia Marina.