PacMAN is a 3-year (2020-2023) project, funded by the Flanders Government, through the Flanders UNESCO Trust Fund (FUST) for the support of UNESCO's activities in the field of Science, and co-funded by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation. Find up to date information on the project progress at the project website pacman.obis.org.
Watch a short video explaining the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_1AS8X7wY
Objectives:
The project will develop a national invasive species monitoring system as well as an early-warning decision-support tool for Pacific SIDS, offering a user-friendly dashboard indicating the potential presence of invasive species (including pathogens and pest species) or risk of invasions to support local management. The project will achieve this goal through a work plan that includes:
- Needs assessment and review of current best practices in detecting invasive species;
- Training of local scientists in field sampling, sample processing, DNA sequencing and data management;
- Establishing and operating national invasive species monitoring plans;
- Building a bioinformatics pipeline to improve the availability of metabarcoding data from biofouling communities and feed these into global data infrastructures and
- Develop the decision-support tool. Strong stakeholder engagement will ensure that the marine bioinvasions monitoring plan and the information and services of the decision-support tool contribute to and meet the requirements of local management (triggering rapid response).
Why PacMAN:
One million species are on the verge of extinction and the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) to new environments is listed as one of the five key drivers impacting biodiversity, according to the recent IPBES global assessment. Small Islands Developing States, SIDS (or better called large ocean states), are particularly vulnerable to such a risk. In addition to the climate and biodiversity crises, marine bioinvasions also pose a real biosecurity risk for human health and the sustainability of livelihoods. It is widely recognized that ship’s ballast water and vessel biofouling, including the surge of new (or larger) marine structures linked to the unfolding and fast-growing blue economy, are the main vectors for the introduction and spread of NIS in the marine environment. Read more.
Establishment:
PacMAN is a large-scale FUST funded project managed by IODE/OBIS, covering all aspects of IOC (from observation to data management, capacity development, ocean science, information and policy). It is not established as an IODE project through an IODE Committee decision.
Governance/Management:
The OBIS Secretariat at the IOC Project Office in Oostende (Belgium) is responsible for the overall coordination and implementation of the project (WP1), supported by a local project manager hosted at the University of the South Pacific. A co-design approach is taken with strong stakeholder engagement through an advisory board consisting of key local stakeholders and international scientific experts.
Activities:
A national Bioinvasions Monitoring Plan for Fiji, based on a need’s assessment (via the advisory board) and a review of current best practices in detecting invasive species. The monitoring plan is available here. Based on the agreed monitoring plan, the test phase of the project is used to test and optimize the proposed protocols, and then the operational phase will be for developing regular NIS monitoring. To ensure local capacity for the monitoring, first local scientists are trained in field sampling, sample processing, DNA sequencing and data management. By building on a number of existing initiatives, the project is creating a bioinformatics pipeline in order to improve the availability of omics data, and more specifically metabarcoding data from biofouling communities, to global data infrastructures (OBIS) and preserve provenance with links to other repositories where standardized metadata (PlutoF), sequence data (INSDC), and taxonomic information (WoRMS) are stored. Based on the output data stored in OBIS, a decision-support tool will provide observations in a user-friendly dashboard indicating potential presence of invasive species (including pathogens and pest species) or risk of invasions to support local management. Early warnings will be generated based on observations in nearby adjacent areas and will provide a service for local managers and decision makers to set up targeted monitoring programmes. Strong stakeholder engagement (Advisory Board) will ensure the marine bioinvasions monitoring plan and the decision-support tool are owned by and meet the requirements of local management. An element cutting across all the above-described activities will be to promote further testing, application and communication on emerging technologies supporting research and observations, contributing to the overall goal of raising ocean literacy. This will be done through a web platform for sharing information, tools and best practices (stakeholder forum).
For more information visit the website: pacman.obis.org or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Created on: Tuesday, 18 February 2020 14:43
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Last Updated on: Monday, 30 January 2023 12:31
