Social Beehive of the BIG ONE

The mission of RCBAS is to promote, coordinate, and sponsor basic biodiversity research in Taiwan ; to advance domestic and international research collaboration; to integrate biological, biotechnological, ecological, and socio-economical disciplines in pursuit of academic excellence and innovation; and to provide the scientific foundation for the conservation, education, and sustainable use of biodiversity. In the beginning, the Center's research areas will be Systematics and Biodiversity Informatics, Germplasm Conservation, Ecology and Biomonitoring, Evolutionary Genomics, and Conservation and Restoration. Of these five fields, Systematics and Biodiversity Informatics will be designated a “topic center” in order to encourage the training of systematics experts whose numbers are fast decreasing. The original museums in the Institute of Zoology and Institute of Botany will be consolidated into the Academia Sinica Biological Museum . The museum will conduct species inventories and research work; and will receive visitors with appointments.



RCBAS will promote the following projects:



Germplasm conservation of economically important and endangered species in Taiwan and the potential threat posed by invasive species. The Center will investigate and study the species, origin, characteristics, and prevention of invaded species as well as build a database of them; establish archives of frozen gene material for Taiwan's wild animals; be in charge of DNA barcoding of fish and other marine organisms; and assist in advancing biosafety such as the examination, evaluation, and management of genetically modified organisms (GMO).



Ecology and biomonitoring. In addition to studying the forming and sustaining mechanisms of Taiwan 's biodiversity, the Center was asked by the National Science Council and the Council of Agriculture to investigate Taiwan 's marine and terrestrial hot spots and sensitive areas. Beginning in 2004, with its own funding, the Center will promote biodiversity research on the Lanyang River Basin and its coastal wetlands and will conduct four sub-projects: resource inventory and databasing; linkages of food web dynamics; function in the forest and agriculture ecosystems; and maintenance and restoration of wetland biodiversity.



Evolutionary Genomics. The Center will examine the relationship between phenotypic variation and corresponding nucleotide changes among different organisms. It will also push for researches on population, genetics, and molecular phylogeny. In concert with Academia Sinica's Theme Projects, it is currently conducting studies on the phylogeography of the West Pacific.



Systematics and Information Network. The Center hopes to cultivate people's interests in becoming systematics scholars, encourage researches in this field, and complete the exploration and categorization of Taiwan species. With the support of the National Science Council, the Center has constructed the Taiwan Biodiversity National Information Network (TaiBNET, http://taibnet.sinica.edu.tw ). Furthermore, it is in charge of setting up and maintaining a website ( http://www.taibif.org.tw ) for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility in Taiwan (TaiBIF).



Conservation and Restoration. The Center will assist the government in the planning and promotion work on the restoration and recovery of habitat and resources including fishery resources, marine protected areas, forest ecosystem, and eco-engineering.



Comparative studies of patterns and forming mechanisms of Taiwan marine biodiversity.