Resource Identification for a Biological Collection Information Service in Europe

[Home | Publications and References | The Survey | Collection catalogue | Software | Standards and Models]

BioCISE project member

Dr. Linda Olsvig-Whittaker is Coordinator of Scientific Data for the Science and Management Division of the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA), responsible for supervision of the biological database, data collection, data analysis and modeling. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1980, in the field of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, under the supervision of R.H. Whittaker. She did two postdoctoral years, one at Technion in Haifa, Israel and the other at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, both on conservation and grazing management. Between 1984 and 1994 she was a research scientist in the Mitrani Center for Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University (Beersheva, Israel). In 1994 she joined the INNPPA as a staff member in her current position.

Dr. Olsvig-Whittaker is an expert in plant community ecology and multivariate analysis; since 1994 she developed the biological database of the INNPPA from a dormant mainframe archive to its present interactive network. Her recent projects include compilation of available information on the West Bank for regional cooperation in conservation, and analysis of the vegetation database for establishment of Mt. Carmel as an MAB Biosphere Reserve. (Note: the latter project was done in cooperation with ESRI Kranzberg, Germany, under support of the German and Israeli governments.) At present her research is focused on use of computer-based decision support systems for making conservation management decisions, and is conducting a pilot study on DSS application to the RAMSAR wetland site at En Afeq Nature Reserve in the Galilee, in cooperation with staff at Wageningen Agricultural University and Staatsbosbeheer in the Netherlands.

© BioCISE Secretariat. Email: biocise@, FAX: +49 (30) 841729-55
Address: Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem (BGBM), Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8, D-14195 Berlin, Germany