Biodiversity Information Science and Standards : Conference Abstract

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Conference Abstract

A GBIF-hosted portal for Germany: Der Lebendige Atlas der Natur Deutschlands (LAND)

Thore Engel^‡,§,|, Martin Friedrichs-Manthey^‡,§,|, Jörg Holetschek^¶, Robert Köpke^#, Pascal Robert Scherreiks^¤, Anton Güntsch^¶, Birgitta Koenig-Ries^¤, Aletta Bonn^§,‡,|

‡ Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Fakultät für Biowissenschaften, Institut für Biodiversität, Jena, Germany

§ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ, Department Biodiversity and People, Leipzig, Germany

| German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

¶ Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

# Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig, Germany

¤ Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

Corresponding author: Thore Engel (thore.engel@idiv.de)

Received: 08 Jan 2026 | Published: 29 Jan 2026

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Engel T, Friedrichs-Manthey M, Holetschek J, Köpke R, Scherreiks P, Güntsch A, Koenig-Ries B, Bonn A (2026) A GBIF-hosted portal for Germany: Der Lebendige Atlas der Natur Deutschlands (LAND). Biodiversity Information Science and Standards 10: e184686. https://doi.org/10.3897/biss.10.184686

Abstract

Biodiversity data can be messy, scattered, and hard to obtain (Engel et al. 2023). National biodiversity data infrastructures fulfill essential functions for science, policy, and practice by structuring national data landscapes and bridging connections between local and global initiatives and infrastructures (Güntsch et al. 2024). As the German national research data infrastructure for biodiversity (NFDI4Biodiversity), we set out to make German biodiversity data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, re-usable) and open (Luther et al. 2022). One of our products is the Lebendiger Atlas der Natur Deutschlands (LAND),*1 a national biodiversity portal that provides species occurrence data in Germany to researchers, conservation authorities, and the general public. We joined forces with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as well as the national node GBIF Germany and created LAND using the GBIF-hosted portal service (Fig. 1).

Figure 1.

Graphical abstract showing the LAND portal interface (left) and key summary points (right). The GBIF map is based on openstreetmap, licensed under ODbL. Figure licence: CC-BY-SA

LAND integrates species occurrence data from different sources, including monitoring initiatives, citizen science, natural history societies, museums, and universities. Initially, the portal was mainly populated with datasets already available through GBIF. Now, our focus has shifted to mobilizing and publishing new datasets from the NFDI4Biodiveristy consortium and other national partners (e.g., Engel et al. 2025, Rehbein et al. 2025). To further enhance the service and increase the mobilization of new datasets to GBIF and LAND, we organize annual community workshops with 50–80 stakeholders from various institutions. These events are designed to strengthen capacity, foster networking, and support the development of new strategic collaborations with local and interdisciplinary partners.

In this contribution, we present the current state of the portal and its key functionalities, and highlight opportunities for data holders and researchers to become involved. Furthermore, we are eager to engage with similar initiatives in other countries.

Keywords

LAND Portal, Living Atlas of Nature Germany, biodiversity portal, NFDI4Biodiversity, citizen science, species occurrence data, NFDI, research data infrastructure, open biodiversity data

Presenting author

Thore Engel

Presented at

Living Data 2025

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many individuals and institutions who contribute to our initiative by sharing their data and participating in our events. We also wish to thank the dedicated colleagues from the GBIF Secretariat, in particular Morten Høfft, for their outstanding support of the Hosted Portal service.

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under the grant agreement number 442032008 (NFDI4Biodiversity). Furthermore, TE, MFM, and AB acknowledge the support of the German Research Foundation to the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DFG-FZT 118, 202548816).

Conflicts of interest

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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