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A fast track to biodiversity in the 21st century - the Indobiosys project

Inventorying global biodiversity is a major challenge for humanity, as biodiversity loss is accelerating dramatically and the need for sustainability is increasing. At the same time, modern science and our increasingly digitized society provide now the means to make significant progress. The development of new techniques for rapid biodiversity assessment around the world is on a fast track. New methods and innovative approaches are flourishing and have to be combined with long-standing taxonomic practices.
 
Indobiosys (Indonesian Biodiversity Discovery and Information System) is a German-Indonesian research project (2015-2018). The project is coordinated at the MfN Berlin in collaboration with the ZSM Munich and the Research Center for Biology – LIPI in Cibinong, Indonesia. All institutions look back to a longstanding and fruitful research cooperation of more than 15 years.
 
The aim of this project is to develop a standardized and sustainable biodiversity discovery workflow to accelerate the process from sampling, identification, and storing promising target taxa from underexplored biodiversity-rich areas like Indonesia. The workflow includes a molecular biodiversity assessment with DNA barcodes, digitization of specimens from museum collections, and an integrated data management system using QR codes for tracking tissue and specimen samples. All data from the discovery workflow and other resources (e.g., literature, collections) are recorded in a database. A web interface will then provide free access to all information to the global research community and an interested public: This primarily includes biodiversity data but also information on potential target groups of organisms for the discovery of new anti-infective compounds (functional screening approach). Such target groups include, e.g., animals that produce defending substances or that are highly adapted to their natural habitat (ecologically specialized) as in the case of various groups of insects. The data will also be made available via global portals such as GBIF – The Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Partners

Duration

01.04.2015 – 31.12.2018

Funding

Federal Ministry of Education and Research - BMBF (Funding number 16GW0111K)