Arapaima gigas, the world’s largest scaled fish, located in the Amazon rivers basin. It can grow to a length of 10 feet and a weight of 300 pounds. Arapaima gigas is Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List.
Photo: Michel Roggo
The eBioAtlas project will help rapidly create a global atlas of the state of life in rivers and wetlands through collecting environmental DNA – traces of DNA left in the water by fish, birds, amphibians and land animals.
“eDNA is a game changer because it allows surveys to be done much faster and it has the potential to pick up much more information than through conventional sampling,” – Will Darwall, Head of IUCN’s Freshwater Biodiversity Unit. “A third of the world’s freshwater fish are threatened. If nothing changes in the way we manage freshwater environments these species are headed for extinction. We need a full-scale bio-blitz using eDNA to rapidly get new and updated information about where freshwater fish live all over the world so we can bring it into the mainstream of conservation and environmental management and policy efforts.”
The project focuses on rivers and wetlands with the greatest number of threatened species, the biggest threats from development, and where the most people are dependent on inland fisheries. Comprehensive surveys will help to complete a biodiversity baseline, allowing the impact of conservation or development to be monitored in each area. This will inform species assessments on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, and help identify sites in need of protection as Key Biodiversity Areas.
IUCN will manage the eBioAtlas programme, working with implementing partners and citizen scientists to conduct sampling, while NatureMetrics will analyse the eDNA to identify the range and distribution of species in each ecosystem. NatureMetrics will supply easy-to-use sampling kits that allow non-specialists to collect high-quality samples, and over 1,000 local people will be trained to carry out sampling.
The project is currently inviting potential funders, as well as conservation organisations interested in implementing the sampling, to get in touch. Learn more at the eBioAtlas website.
