Carl Beierkuhnlein, University of Bayreuth, explains the greatest challenges for nature conservation and restoration today: to find the right reference. “[…], the most important contribution for an efficient management of natural systems is to manage for biodiversity. But not just like a lottery, but also to consider the biotic interactions, the trophic levels of the species, and also their ecological niches and how they would really create interactions and a complex ecosystem when they coexist. We have to learn from the past, but also realise that the past is no longer the right reference […] We need to know how biodiversity functions and how it contributes to the ecosystem services that humanity is dependent on, and LifeWatch ERIC provides the important platform for that.” Watch the video and find out more! More information here: https://www.lifewatch.eu/bees-2023/