The document is about a project called MacroMED which aims to compile data on macroinvertebrates from Mediterranean climate regions around the world. It was funded by the European Commission as part of the larger BioFresh project to build a global freshwater biodiversity database. The MacroMED project will merge existing taxonomic data from Mediterranean regions into one accessible database. They are contacting taxonomic experts in these regions to contribute data and literature on macroinvertebrate occurrences to help complete the database. Experts can provide already digitized data or publications to be digitized for the project.

1. MacroMED Macroinvertebrates
in mediterranean climate watercourses
Dear colleague,
We hope this message finds you well. As you probably know, the European
Commission funded a project under the FP7 called BioFresh ( (Biodiversity of Freshwater
rsity
Ecosystems: Status, Trends, Pressures, and Conservation Priorities). The main aims of
Priorities).
BioFresh is to build a global information platform for scientists and ecosystem
managers with access to all available databases describing the distribution, status and
trends of global freshwater biodiversity. BioFresh integrates the freshwater
al
biodiversity competencies and expertise of 19 research institutions
(www.freshwaterbiodiversity.eu
www.freshwaterbiodiversity.eu).
Within the BioFresh, the University of Granada in collaboration with the University of
Barcelona have started to collaborate on a contingency fund project named
“MacroMED: Macroinvertebrates in Med Mediterranean climate watercourses” The main
watercourses”.
of this project is to recompile and merge data of existent macroinvertebrate taxa from
mediterranean rivers over the world (Mediterranean Basin, South Africa, Chile,
California, and Australia). As you known, me
). mediterranean-climate regions constitute top
imate
biodiversity hotspots of the world, despite occupying only 1,2% of land surface.
However, the knowledge regarding freshwater biodiversity patterns and processes
remains scattered and incomplete and a lot of information is found as grey literature
incomplete, d
(thesis, reports, etc), which does not reach the broad audience. Therefore, the idea of
the MacroMED is to bring all these datasets together and make them available to the
general public through the BioFresh platform
platform.
We are thus contacting you as a taxonomic specialist working on a mediterranean-
tacting
climate region to ask you about your willingness to participate to the MacroMED
project. There are two ways of participating in the project:
.
1) by providing already digitalized data from your taxonomic group/s of expertise.
2) by providing your literature (pdf files or hard copies) from your taxonomic
group/s of expertise.
The first option would be really much appreciated; as it will speed up the process of
having the MacroMED project completed but if you do not have your species data
but
digitalised we would also be very happy to receive your publications on species
occurrences to be digitalised. As you can see, we are only seeking for occurrences of
species data (all that is not at species level is not needed) and for environmental
characteristics of the sites (UTM coordinates, altitude, physic-chemical characteristics,
chemical
sampling techniques). Data
Data/literature on species traits (e.g. life-cycle data) would be
cycle
also appreciated.
We would really much appreciate your collaboration with the MacroMED project. By
appreciate
doing that we can ensure that you will have all your data digitalized and have access to
other macroinvertebrate data in mediterranean climate regions. In case you would like
mediterranean-climate

2. MacroMED Macroinvertebrates
in mediterranean climate watercourses
to participate and contribute with expertise, we would really much appreciate if you
ibute
could indicate us your willingness and send us your literature or already digitalised
data to:
Francisco Blanco (paco.blanco@mediodes.com
paco.blanco@mediodes.com)
Carmen Zamora Muñoz (czamora@ugr.es
czamora@ugr.es)
Dpto. Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad de Granada
C/ Severo Ochoa, s/n.
18071-Granada, Spain
Once we receive your willingness to participate in the project, we will also send you an
agreement of collaboration signed by us.
We hope you find this initiative interesting and we look forward to collaborating with
you. It would be a pity that your taxonomic group of expertise and your region is not
considered in the MacroMED database.
Please, let us know if you need further information on the project.
Kind regards,
Carmen Zamora Muñoz Francisco Blanco