Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery
Discover biodiversity more quickly and comprehensively
Overview
Biodiversity is in crisis worldwide: ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change, habitat loss and human activities, whilst many species remain undiscovered.
The Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery (ZIB) at the Museum of Natural History was established to address this challenge. Our aim is to accelerate the discovery, documentation and understanding of Earth’s biodiversity before vital parts of this diversity are lost.
By combining new technologies with traditional biodiversity research, we are laying the foundations for systematically documenting and better protecting the diversity of life.
Accelerating taxonomy – making biodiversity visible
To achieve this goal, the ZIB is accelerating taxonomy: high-throughput genomics, robotics and artificial intelligence are helping to unlock the ‘dark matter’ of biology – that is, groups of organisms that are very common and contain many different species. Automated systems enable the rapid processing of large biological samples, whilst DNA sequencing and AI-supported image analysis accelerate the identification of both known and previously unknown species.
This creates a global inventory of wildlife – ranging from well-known organisms to poorly researched ‘dark taxa’, which often play a central role in ecosystems. Our work combines basic research with technological innovation and opens up new possibilities for a holistic understanding of biodiversity worldwide.
Research
Key areas
Species discovery and taxonomy
Accelerating the discovery and description of unknown species, particularly among poorly studied ‘dark taxa’. This requires the development of automated systems, AI-supported analyses and global databases for the large-scale documentation of biodiversity.
Evolution and systematics
Investigation of evolutionary relationships and the origins of biodiversity using modern genomic methods.
Ecology and conservation
Studying species within their ecosystems to develop evidence-based strategies for the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources.
