Mind the Wallacean Gap: What is our strategy for improving biogeographic data?

What we don’t know about biogeographic data is very well-known. Studies routinely demonstrate what feels like an impossible task of filling the vast cavern of data deficiency known as the Wallacean shortfall. But what is it we really need to know about species distributions?  I will discuss some applications of species distribution data and predictions, especially in the context of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, some persistent problems with data gaps and bias, and how we might go about filling these gaps in the fastest and most fun ways possible.

About our speaker: Laura Pollock is an  Associate Professor in Biology at McGill University and the Montreal AI Institute (MILA). She works at the interface of biodiversity modelling and conservation planning and has advanced methods for multi-species communities in predictive modelling, indicator development, and 30×30 planning. She is co-lead of the modelling Axis of the Québec Center for Biodiversity Science, co-lead for the Environment group of IVADO, coPI of the AI and Biodiversity Change Global Center and directs Blitz the Gap. She also contributes to open science and policy initiatives such as Open Nature, GEO BON, bon-in-a-box, and the IUCN Species Survival Commission. She has worked in a variety of places, including a Marie Curie fellowship in France and a PhD in Australia studying the ecology and evolution of eucalypt trees.