The European project iBioGen begins

The European project iBioGen begins

The project 'iBioGen - Twinning for European Excellence in Island Biodiversity Genomics' composed of researchers from the University of Cyprus (UCY), Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology (IPNA, CSIC), Natural History Museum (London, United Kingdom) and Centre National de la Reserche Scientifique (CNRS, Paris, France) and funded with one million euros by the European Commission through its Horizon 2020 program, has launched a research program whose main objectives are: (i) deepen the use of genomic techniques to understand and protect the biodiversity of island systems, and (ii) enhance the innovative and scientific capacity of Cyprus through the establishment of a European network of excellence between the various entities involved.

The islands are home to some of the world's most unique ecosystems, made up of communities and species that are the result of unique evolutionary histories and exclusive to each island system. The exceptional biological diversity that can be found in the islands, as well as its variation with respect to other islands and geographically close continents, has attracted the interest of numerous scientists for decades.

The research carried out on island systems has made it possible to define the pillars of classical evolutionary theory and the theory of island biogeography, and to lay the base of more modern theories about biodiversity and its risk of extinction according to the degree of fragmentation of its patches of habitats. For all that, the islands has turned into an authentic "natural laboratories" where to study the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that are responsible for modelling the patterns of diversification of organisms, and the richness and composition of their communities. 

However, the biodiversity of island systems is not only characterised by its enormous biological value and degree of endemicity, but also by its high vulnerability to the impacts generated by human activities (destruction of habitats, climate change, etc.). The management of these threats and the conservation of their biological diversity at all levels (ecosystems, communities, species...) represents a great methodological and logistical challenge. In this sense, the use of the currently most advanced genomic methodologies can provide important knowledge about our understanding of biodiversity and the processes that promote and maintain it in space and time. Through iBioGen, the aim is to encourage collaboration between all the member institutions through meetings, stays in laboratories, work groups, seminars and summer schools in the different venues.

The works carried out within the framework of the iBioGen project will suppose a necessary and important advance in (i) the unification and implantation of common protocols of sampling and laboratory work, (ii) establishment of a network of "Biodiversity Observatories" for the European insular biodiversity, (iii) development of a theoretical synthesis of the field of biodiversity genomics.

All of the above will make it possible to make society known and promote the conservation of the biodiversity of island systems in general, and particularly of those islands or archipelagos where iBioGen (Cyprus, Canary Islands and Aegean Islands) will be focused. The iBioGen project began last September 1, will last 36 months and its inaugural meeting will be held on September 13 and 14 in Nicosia (Cyprus), the site that houses the main headquarters of the project (University of Cyprus, UCY).

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The European project iBioGen begins