Ecosystem Services

The functions performed by some organisms are of enormous importance to human society. These can be positive, such as the important role bees perform in pollination for Ireland’s horticulture sector, or negative when species serve as a vector of diseases that affect animal or human health. The Data Centre will target three ecosystem functions: pollination, pest and disease vectors and genetic diversity.

a. Pollinators: The provision of high quality data and information on the status and distribution of Ireland’s bees will be made available to support the information needs of Ireland’s horticultural industry.

b. Pest and disease vectors: To provide up to date information on the distribution of vectors of Malaria, Bluetongue Virus, West Nile Virus, African Horse Sickness and Liver Fluke to inform policy development in the area of human and animal health.

c. Genetic resources: To present information on the distribution of Ireland’s Crop Wild Relatives to support the work of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food’s genetic diversity programme.