Claudia Bruschini

We present a browser-based curation tool (Library Curation Tool) developed to support expert validation of taxonomic records derived from the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). This tool forms a critical component of a two-step approach designed within the EU Horizon Europe project Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) to build a high-quality, curated DNA barcode reference library for European species. The upstream component—a bioinformatics pipeline described in a companion publication—automatically filters, cleans, and ranks BOLD records based on metadata completeness, sequence quality, and taxonomic consistency. However, certain complex cases, such as misidentifications, nomenclatorial problems (e.g. synonymy), BIN-sharing (multiple species sharing one BIN) or BIN-splitting (a single species associated with multiple BINs), cannot be fully resolved by automated methods and require expert judgment. Our Library Curation Tool enables taxonomic experts to interactively inspect, validate, or exclude individual records, update species names, assign curation statuses, and provide curator notes. The tool supports real-time statistics for BIN conflicts and dynamically updates curation metrics as the expert interacts with the data. Its user interface is designed to simplify the review of large datasets while ensuring consistency, traceability, and minimal risk of structural errors common in spreadsheet-based curation workflows. The curated output from this tool, combined with the automated pipeline, forms the foundation of a reference library suitable for accurate DNA-based species identification in biodiversity monitoring and ecological studies. By integrating expert knowledge into a standardized and scalable interface, the tool supports distributed community curation of DNA barcode reference data. Although currently implemented as a local application, the workflow is designed to facilitate the consolidation of expert annotations into shared, FAIR-compliant reference libraries and future integration with community infrastructures such as BOLD and BOLD-Europe.

Aim: Comparison between islands and equivalent mainland areas to dissect the effect of area, isolation and species traits in determining island genetic endemicity and genetic differentiation. Location: The Western Mediterranean region. Time Period: Current. Major Taxa Studied: Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea). Methods: We analysed 10,367 COI sequences from 105 species, 34 islands and 47 sea straits, along with four functional species traits. We compared determinants of genetic diversity (nucleotide diversity, NucDiv ), endemic mutations (EM) and the Dst fixation index between island populations and similarly sized mainland populations (Continental Area Equivalents, CAEs). Generalised linear mixed models tested fixed effects and interactions of island characteristics and species traits. We also evaluated whether population‐level effects (individual species increasing differentiation with island size and isolation) or community‐level effects (larger, less isolated islands hosting more genetically divergent species) better explain observed island patterns. Results: CAEs and islands exhibited highly distinct genetic signatures. NucDiv was higher in CAEs while Dst was higher across sea straits than between land areas separating CAEs, particularly for larger islands and non‐migratory species. EM increased with island area, especially in non‐migratory and small species. Island communities were significantly nested. Widespread species also showed lower genetic variation, thus producing a strong community‐level effect. The population‐level effects showed a weaker effect. Counterintuitively, increasing isolation did not increase divergence, as both processes tended to reduce genetic differentiation in more isolated islands. Main Conclusions: Comparing islands with CAEs reveals that even narrow sea barriers of a few kilometres greatly reduce gene flow in non‐migratory butterflies, increasing genetic differentiation to a greater extent than similar mainland distances. After controlling for the presence of sea straits, island size predicts genetic divergence while increasing isolation does not. Overall, endemicity remains low, indicating that mainland‐driven genetic turnover, rather than in situ evolution, dominates insular genetic patterns.

DNA barcoding has become a cornerstone for species identification and biodiversity monitoring, enabling applications from ecological research to conservation and environmental policy. The International Barcode of Life (iBOL) provides global coordination, but national nodes are essential for implementing barcoding at scale, building local capacity and translating scientific advances into practice. This paper synthesises experiences from 20 countries (17 in Europe), drawing on a survey and a workshop conducted under the Horizon Europe Biodiversity Genomics Europe project. We examine how national nodes are initiated, governed and sustained and identify common challenges, such as defining scope, securing funding, harmonising methods and engaging stakeholders. Most nodes were initiated by research communities and operate as informal networks with heterogeneous governance and staffing models. Key priorities include constructing comprehensive DNA barcode reference libraries, aligning activities with biomonitoring needs and promoting FAIR and CARE data principles. We highlight strategies for capacity building, methodological standardisation and stakeholder engagement, alongside approaches for diversifying funding and strengthening communication. Based on these insights, we present ten practical recommendations to guide the establishment and long-term success of national DNA barcoding nodes. Strengthening these infrastructures will enhance Europe’s ability to deliver robust DNA-based biodiversity monitoring, underpin metabarcoding and metagenomic studies and contribute to global efforts in species discovery, conservation and environmental management.

Conservation biases have been documented since the first emergence of the concept of biodiversity in the 1980s, showing a systematic disproportion in the allocation of research and conservation efforts among taxa. One factor underlying this disproportion, gaining prominence in recent literature, is variation in species’ perceived beauty, shaped by human visual preferences. Here, we integrate a large-scale survey of the perceived beauty of European butterflies involving >21000 respondents from >100 countries within a full interconnected and time-explicit network linking species’ beauty, public attention, research and conservation efforts, and the regulatory framework at the continental EU level (Fig. S1). We found that a beauty bias consistently shapes public attention, research and conservation efforts, interacting with species detectability: research efforts and public attention concentrate on widespread and attractive species, whereas the legal conservation framework, particularly the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (hereafter: Bern Convention, BC, 1979) and the EU Habitats Directive (hereafter: HD, 1992), favours those that are both visually appealing and range-restricted. Because these frameworks guide funding and management actions, initial aesthetic preferences influencing BC and HD have produced long-lasting institutional effects that still shape research and conservation actions on European butterflies. By contrast, European IUCN Red Lists do not privilege beautiful species and increasingly identify less conspicuous taxa as threatened. This mismatch reveals a tension between scientific assessments of extinction risk and historically embedded conservation priorities. Our findings suggest that recognizing beauty bias is vital for aligning conservation with actual ecological urgency.

We present a browser-based curation tool developed to support expert validation of taxonomic records derived from the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). This tool forms a critical component of a two-step approach designed within the EU Horizon Europe project Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) to build a high-quality, curated DNA barcode reference library for European species. The upstream component—a bioinformatics pipeline described in a companion publication—automatically filters, cleans, and ranks BOLD records based on metadata completeness, sequence quality, and taxonomic consistency. However, certain complex cases, such as misidentifications, nomenclatorial problems (e.g. synonymy), BIN-sharing (multiple species sharing one BIN) or BIN-splitting (a single species associated with multiple BINs), cannot be fully resolved by automated methods and require expert judgment. Our curation tool enables taxonomic experts to interactively inspect, validate, or exclude individual records, update species names, assign curation statuses, and provide curator notes. The tool supports real-time statistics for BIN conflicts and dynamically updates curation metrics as the expert interacts with the data. Its user interface is designed to simplify the review of large datasets while ensuring consistency, traceability, and minimal risk of structural errors common in spreadsheet-based curation workflows. The curated output from this tool, combined with the automated pipeline, forms the foundation of a reference library suitable for accurate DNA-based species identification in biodiversity monitoring and ecological studies. By integrating expert knowledge into a standardized and scalable interface, the tool supports the creation of FAIR, version-controlled reference libraries essential in the era of accelerating biodiversity loss and declining taxonomic capacity.

Pollinators are declining globally, highlighting the urgent need for accurate methods to monitor their densities and abundances. Distance sampling (DS) is a promising, non‐invasive method for estimating insect population abundances, but its estimates have not been compared with independent counts of population size to validate DS efficacy for insects. We addressed this methodological gap on Giannutri Island (Italy), where two strongly declining pollinator populations of Anthophora dispar and Bombus terrestris coexist with managed honey bees ( Apis mellifera ). DS field surveys, targeting both managed and wild bees, were conducted across 41 transects spanning five land cover types over 12 sampling days. We validated this method by verifying that the number of foraging honey bees estimated with DS is consistent with the literature reported proportion of workers outside the hives (~12.5%–20%) of the known reference population of managed colonies. Using DS, we also verified: (1) a strong consistency in abundance estimates across consecutive days; (2) significant effects of weather conditions on detected abundances and temporal trends matching the known phenology of adults in both wild species; (3) marked differences in densities across land cover types consistent with the known link between pollinator abundances and vegetation structures. In conclusion, DS offers a practical method for obtaining reliable estimates of population size for midsized to large insects when individuals can be readily observed and identified. While its applicability to smaller species and closed habitats may thus be limited, it represents a valuable tool where traditional methods are impractical.

DNA barcoding has become a cornerstone for species identification and biodiversity monitoring, enabling applications from ecological research to conservation and environmental policy. The International Barcode of Life (iBOL) provides global coordination, but national nodes are essential for implementing barcoding at scale, building local capacity, and translating scientific advances into practice. This paper synthesizes experiences from 20 countries (17 in Europe), drawing on a survey and a workshop conducted under the Horizon Europe Biodiversity Genomics Europe project. We examine how national nodes are initiated, governed, and sustained, and identify common challenges such as defining scope, securing funding, harmonizing methods, and engaging stakeholders. Most nodes were initiated by research communities, and operate as informal networks with heterogeneous governance and staffing models. Key priorities include constructing comprehensive DNA barcode reference libraries, aligning activities with biomonitoring needs, and promoting FAIR and CARE data principles. We highlight strategies for capacity building, methodological standardization, and stakeholder engagement, alongside approaches for diversifying funding and strengthening communication. Based on these insights, we present ten practical recommendations to guide the establishment and long-term success of national DNA barcoding nodes. Strengthening these infrastructures will enhance Europe’s ability to deliver robust DNA-based biodiversity monitoring, underpin metabarcoding and metagenomic studies, and contribute to global efforts in species discovery, conservation, and environmental management.

We report the rediscovery of Megachile diabolica Friese, 1898 in Italy, 76 years after its last and only known record. A single female was collected in May 2024 in the Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia, southern Italy), an area of calcareous grasslands recognized as a hotspot of Mediterranean biodiversity for insects. Morphological identification was supported by DNA barcoding, confirming the specimen’s identity with minimal divergence (0.77%) from a Turkish haplotype. The bee was observed foraging on Asyneuma limonifolium (L.) Janch, a plant species with a limited distribution in southern Italy. This finding not only confirms the occurrence of the species in Italy but also highlights the conservation value of the Alta Murgia National Park, confirming its rich pollinator community and the remarkably low extinction rates. The coexistence of open grasslands and forested patches likely provides a microhabitat mosaic that buffers pollinator populations from increasing climatic extremes.