Conclusions
Advances in high throughput barcoding, together with progress in the
field of automated image-based identification, are providing new ways to
generate fundamental biodiversity data for arthropods. These exciting
developments can be leveraged to address key data shortfalls for
arthropods that have important implications for both conservation and
management, and more applied ecological and evolutionary understanding.
We have focused on islands, due to their biological importance and
conservation concern, to assess how such developments can be integrated
to advance the understanding, management and conservation of their
biotas. Taken together, there is a strong rationale for global,
coordinated and funded networks of island Genomic Observatories, to
complement other forms of space and ground-based Earth observation.
These ”biodiversity weather stations” could help monitor and understand
climate and degradation-driven biodiversity trends, track the global
spread of invasive species in real time, and be harbingers for changes
that will ultimately manifest in continental systems. We conclude that
high throughput barcoding can be applied to address multiple dimensions
of existing data shortfalls for insular arthropods, and that ongoing
developments in the area of image-based identification will likely lead
to even higher efficiency. The DNA barcode provides a universal currency
for measuring and comparing arthropod biodiversity and, if implemented
within the framework of an island Genomic Observatories Network, can
connect island biodiversity research at a global scale.