Predictive Understanding of Global Biodiversity Dynamics (PUGBD)

Main funder

Funder's project number: 345110

Funds granted by main funder (€)

Funding program

Project timetable

Project start date: 01/09/2021

Project end date: 31/12/2024

Summary

This project will provide a greatly revised understanding of global biodiversity, including its current distribution, the drivers of its dynamics, and how it can be expected to change due to the ongoing global changes. We will generate unprecedented global data on biodiversity, especially for fungi and arthropods, which comprise a major part of biodiversity but for which systematic globally relevant data are currently lacking. We will utilize methods that allow cost-effective and automated sampling of biodiversity, such as identifying fungi directly from air samples using DNA-based methods. We will combine the global sampling program with the development of bioinformatics and statistical tools that are critically needed to interpret the vast amount of data to be generated. This project has the potential to revolutionize biomonitoring by demonstrating that it is feasible to move from indicator approaches to comprehensive global monitoring of entire species communities.

Principal Investigator

Primary responsible unit

Related publications and other outputs