International Barcode of Life - Home

Making Every Species Count

Building a Bioliterate World

What would it be like to live in a bio-literate world - a world where you could know, in minutes, the name of any animal or plant - any time, anywhere? And not just its name but everything about it - what are its habits, is it endangered, is it dangerous, should it even be there or is it an invader from somewhere else?

How could we use that knowledge to protect our planet's biodiversity and promote human health and well-being?

The International Barcode of Life project (iBOL), the largest biodiversity genomics initiative ever undertaken, is unlocking the door to that world by creating a digital identification system for life.


• Breaking News for Wednesday, May 22, 2013 •

DNA Barcoding Online Course
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Biodiversity Institute of Ontario offers distance education course in DNA Barcoding

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Course Website

Kunming hosts conference
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The Kunming Institutes of Botany and Zoology, invite to the 5th International Barcode of Life Conference in Kunming, China from 27-31 October 2013 .

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Conference Website

PestBOL site launched
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The Plant Pest Barcoding site provides summary information on DNA Barcode coverage for invertebrate pests of significance to global plant production.

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Browse PestBOL

Bulletin Reader’s Digest
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February issue of the Barcode Bulletin Reader’s Digest is out.

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How iBOL Works

It takes a lot of different people with different talents to get the job done.

Read about global participation in iBOL and how it works.

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Building the Barcode Library

2,012,391 specimens
309,803 barcode clusters/species Target for 2015:
5,000,000 specimens
500,000 species Learn more...

Barcoding Campaigns

A number of campaigns have started to collect and register DNA barcodes from specific families and regions of life.

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Get Connected

Get connected with other DNA barcoding participants, scientists, and enthusiasts.

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