The EBONE project intends to be the basis of a cost effective data collection system for biodiversity including extant data, both past and present, at national, regional and European levels. It will form the basis for the continued development of a European Biodiversity Observation System and in this way provide a common European basis or reporting on biodiversity, access to indicator data for CBD reporting against the 2010 target. The system is compatible with and contributes to the GEOSS 10 year implementation plan. EBONE will contribute to the GEOSS tasks EC-09-01 and BI-07-01. (GEOSS 2009-2011 Workplan). The project focuses on this topic and will deliver a European contribution to the development of a global biodiversity observation system that is spatially and topically prioritised. It will also build on existing information. Therefore a link will be made between the methods, data and observation sites available in different countries and regions. A link will be made with various ongoing projects and available databases as well as observation and monitoring systems. Tests will be carried out on the data from representative LTER (Long-term Ecosystem Research) sites and Natura 2000 sites in relation to data from nation-wide habitat monitoring programmes. Power analysis of datasets at different levels (species, habitat, ecosystems) are carried out to test the representativeness and in this way the usefulness of sampling schemes and data sets. The approach builds on knowledge developed in recent European research projects and networks such as AlterNet, BioHab, BioPress and EuMon. It assesses representativeness of sites and integrates existing national monitoring systems. It aims to lead to a cost effective procedure for biodiversity monitoring.