Our Mission
ORBIT is a three-year project commissioned by the Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission to develop resources for European bee inventory and taxonomy.
The overall objective of ORBIT is to create a centralised taxonomic facility that lays the groundwork for the identification of European wild bees that will support other European projects such the EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (EU-PoMS), the Preparatory Action for EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme and Indicators (SPRING project), the Horizon 2020 Europe research projects (POSHBEE, SAFEGUARD), national action plan for pollinators, and finally the European Red List of Bees.
Through ORBIT, the European Commission will make tools accessible to researchers to identify European bees to facilitate a generation of large-scale scientific studies on trait-based biodiversity patterns and responses of wild bee communities to environmental changes that are more generalisable across ecosystems, taxa, and spatial scales in Europe.
Partners
Our team
ORBIT PROJECT 