The first continent regional level node of iBOL
BIOSCAN Europe was established in 2021 by the barcoding community in recognition of the growth of DNA barcoding activity across Europe. This new network – aligned with the global iBOL consortium – was considered highly relevant due to the geographic proximity of many European nations, overlapping national species inventories, and shared opportunities for European Commission funding. It was envisaged that BIOSCAN Europe would help to facilitate the international cohesion required to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time: biodiversity loss.
The first years of BIOSCAN Europe involved exploring the European barcoding landscape and culminated in the decision to establish a European node of iBOL. In recognition of this, BIOSCAN Europe has been rebranded as iBOL Europe to clarify our role in amplifying the global iBOL vision of establishing an Earth observation system for biodiversity. We are currently developing an organisation and governance structure aligned with iBOL and the needs of the European DNA barcoding community.
iBOL Europe’s vision is to support the DNA barcoding communities of European nations to conduct impactful DNA-based biomonitoring to sustain and improve planetary biodiversity. To help realise this vision, we carried out a survey in 2023 to identify the most important functions of iBOL Europe from the perspective of the European DNA barcoding community. The top five of these functions have been taken as a starting point to guide our efforts over the coming year:
- Supporting the completion of DNA-barcode reference libraries of European species.
- Maintaining a website as a DNA-barcoding communication and resource portal.
- Promoting the development of standard protocols and workflows for DNA barcoding.
- Aiding the establishment of new iBOL national nodes in European countries.
- Coordinating collaborative funding applications at the European network level.
Do you have suggestions for our activities or the new website? Don’t hesitate to let us know at: info@iboleurope.org
