As part of its program to strengthen the Analytical Capacity of the TEAM Network, TEAM is organizing an Advanced Course and Workshop on Biodiversity Indexes.

The Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais through Professor Francisco Barbosa has gracefully offered to host this important workshop, which will take place in Belo Horizonte, Brasil, on June 4th-13th, 2007.

The general aim of this workshop is to introduce participants to different ways of measuring species diversity, the statistical properties of different indexes and their advantages and disadvantages as tools to detect biodiversity change in the scientific context of TEAM. This is an intensive and advanced course, so participants should have a vested interested in analyzing their own data sets and learn new simulation and numerical techniques, be familiar with basic statistical knowledge, and be prepared to spend extra hours working on exercises and collaborative projects. Also in attendance will be Dr. Steve Buckland (University of St. Andrews, Scotland), one of the few people in the world who has done serious comparative analyses of biodiversity indexes in the context of detection of biodiversity change in space and time.

The workshop is limited to 20 participants from TEAM Network Sites. A preliminary list of attendees was created at the TEAM Network Science Meeting in Manaus.

If you are interested in attending this workshop, please contact Jorge Ahumada, j.ahumada@conservation.org, by April 3, 2007.