A proposal from John Brinda (https://bryonames.org) to establish and integrate the “International Bryodiversity Network” (IBN) into the mission of the International Association of Bryologists (IAB) was put to the vote of the Council. The proposal was accepted by the IAB Council by 9 votes in favor, 1 against.

The proposal is to establish an “International Bryodiversity Network” (IBN), led by an ad hoc IAB committee, to oversee the compilation and sharing of bryophyte diversity data. As such, the IBN would (1) provide expert-curated regional lists of bryophyte species to replace outdated published checklists or the raw, unverified data generated by mass digitization projects used to define bryophyte species distributions with more recent verified and documented occurrences, (2) eliminate a tremendous amount of duplication of effort, and (3) provide a source to cite for bryophyte species. This will use bryonames.org for taxonomy and will point to the data already stored on tropicos.org and shared with various other websites.

The initial focus will be on compiling country-level checklists for as  many areas as possible. Those who are already managing these data at the  national level and are eager to coordinate with this project should contact John Brinda directly via email (john.brinda@gmail.com).

Full details for those interested in joining this effort will be made available very soon, after a trial period.