Research project P4S/251/FADAmol (Research action P4S)
Freshwater ecosystems host an extraordinary diversity of life but are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Despite their importance, freshwater biodiversity remains underrepresented in research and conservation, partly due to fragmented taxonomic information. Reliable taxonomic backbones are therefore essential for biodiversity databases and monitoring efforts.
The Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment (FADA) is a global online database compiling taxonomic information on freshwater animals. It currently includes more than 125,000 formally described species. Since 2023, the infraFADA project has been upgrading the database to serve as a taxonomic backbone for international infrastructures such as GBIF and the Catalogue of Life.
FADAmol will further develop this research infrastructure by integrating freshwater parasitic animal species, linking parasites with their host species, and incorporating molecular data. To achieve the latter, DNA sequence data of genetic repositories such as GenBank and BOLD will be linked to species names, and cryptic species.
By improving the quality and accessibility of freshwater biodiversity data at different levels, FADAmol will support biodiversity monitoring, ecological research, and conservation policies. The project also strongly contributes to international biodiversity initiatives and supports the One Health approach by improving knowledge of parasite diversity and host–parasite interactions. The incorporation of DNA sequence data will also be the first step to prepare FADAmol for future developments in biodiversity research such as eDNA and molecular taxonomy.
