Rivers and wetlands are the arteries of planet Earth. They are critical for our water security and wellbeing, but are also home to an incredible, but rarely seen, diversity of life. In South Africa, freshwaters have become more threatened than any other ecosystems and their aquatic species are disappearing faster than ever before. We have arrived at a crossroads where bending back the curve of biodiversity loss hinges on access to reliable and accessible data.
FBIS ORIGINS
The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) was conceptualized by the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) in 2017, in response to a growing need for improved access to biodiversity data from South African freshwater ecosystems. A wide range of freshwater stakeholders were consulted, and the design of the was guided by the needs of key freshwater data users. With funds from the JRS Biodiversity Foundation, the first instance of the platform was launched in 2019, and since then it has been iteratively refined and populated with nearly a 800 000 freshwater biodiversity data records.
FBIS user requirements workshop at SANBI, 2018.
Prior to the development of the FBIS there was no centralized place to access freshwater data for South Africa. Past databases had become defunct, and existing data sets were scattered and difficult to access. We were losing track of which data were where, and there was a risk of losing irreplicable historical baseline datasets altogether. Poor data access has consequences at different levels – from a scientist studying the biodiversity in an individual river, wetland or lake, through to national-level conservation planning and decision-making.
FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION SYSTEM (FBIS)
The FBIS is a powerful, visual, data-rich information system for hosting and serving freshwater biodiversity data in South Africa. It serves as a platform for the inventory and maintenance of data, thereby facilitating the evaluation of long-term change in freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem condition, and guiding future monitoring strategies and management decisions.
The core mission of the FBIS has always been to overcome barriers to data access, and this has been achieved by harmonizing datasets from many different sources into one user-friendly, open access information system. Because the platform conforms to international biodiversity data standards, including preserving detailed metadata for each record, it is now possible to access large, user-ready freshwater datasets at the click of a button. And what’s more, the powerful tools built into the platform make it easy to analyze the data using a range of different spatial, temporal, ecological and management filters.
The FBIS is a powerful, user-friendly, open-access platform hosting 800 000 freshwater biodiversity records for South Africa (links to papers below)
FROM DATA TO IMPACT
What sets the FBIS apart from other biodiversity platforms is the ability to access and analyse large datasets from multiple sources with relative ease. Improved data access is enabling new insights into species distributions, population changes over time and hotspots of endemism, richness, diversity and threat. The platform is built to support data-driven biodiversity assessments and applications from species Red List assessments to strategic protected area expansion. Data from the FBIS platform have already been used to assess the effectiveness of protected areas for conserving freshwater fish, to create freshwater fish sensitivity layers for the National Environmental Screening Tool, and freshwater fish records collated through the FBIS have more than doubled the number of South African freshwater fish records on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
FBIS MOBILE APP
The FBIS mobile application is a quick and easy way to upload freshwater biodiversity data from field monitoring sites directly to the FBIS platform, eliminating the need for datasheets and spreadsheets. Biodiversity data for fish, invertebrates, algae, anurans and plants can be added for both rivers and wetlands, and SASS biomonitoring data can be added for rivers. The app mimics standard data sheets, accommodating details about sampling site, sampling method, sampling effort, environmental data, photographs, notes and more. Sampling data can be synchronized with FBIS platform when back at the office via a wifi connection, or directly from the field using mobile data. The SASS App can be downloaded for free for both Apple and Android devices.
THE TEAM BEHIND THE PLATFORM
The FBIS project is a collaborative effort led by the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) in partnership Kartoza Open Source Geospatial Solutions and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The project is funded by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation. Key project partners include CapeNature, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), SANParks, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the City of Cape Town.
AWARDS
The FBIS team received the 2022/2023 “Data for Research” Award from the NSTF-South32 – known locally as the Science Oscars. These awards honour and celebrate outstanding contributions to science, engineering and technology and innovation. Concurrently, Dr Helen Dallas received the Gold Medal from the Southern African Society for Aquatic Science in recognition of her contribution to freshwater science, including the co-development of FBIS.
PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCES
- Dallas H & Shelton J. 2024. Biodiversity data at your fingertips: The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System. South African Journal of Science, 120(7/8). https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2024/18705
- Kajee M, Henry DAW, Dallas HF, Griffiths CL, Pegg J, Van der Colff D, Impson D, Chakona A, Raimondo DC, Job NM, Paxton BR, Jordaan MS, Bills R, Roux F, Zengeya TA, Hoffman A, Rivers-Moore N and Shelton JM. 2023. How the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) is supporting national freshwater fish conservation decisions in South Africa. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 11. DOI: 10.3389/fenvs.2023.1122223/abstract
- Kajee M, Dallas HF, Swanepoel A, Griffiths CL and Shelton JM. 2023. The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) fish data: a georeferenced dataset of freshwater fishes occuring in South Africa. Journal of Limnology 82(S1). DOI.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2023.2133
- Dallas HF, Shelton JM, Sutton T, Tri Ciputra D, Kajee M and Job N. 2022. The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) – mobilising data for evaluating long-term change in South African rivers, African Journal of Aquatic Science 47(3): 291-306, DOI: 10.2989/16085914.2021.1982672.
- Conference presentations: South African Society of Aquatic Scientists (2023), Biodiversity Information Conference (2022), National Wetlands Indaba; South African Society of Aquatic Scientists (2021)
RESOURCES
- Watch “The Life of a Data Point” – a short film that spotlights the value of each and every data point and celebrates the platforms that house and serve our biodiversity data – platforms that allow our hard-earned data to be re-used, repurposed and recycled.
- FBIS Training sessions (2022)
- FBIS Tutorials (2022)
- Freshwater Biodiversity Information System
Collaborators
Funders