Why it matters
Australia is a mega-diverse country. Our biodiversity is beautiful and immensely valuable. It provides billions of dollars in revenue and jobs, and unique resource for innovation, science and industry.
Maintaining our biological resources is challenging. Conventional tools for understanding, monitoring and responding to environmental needs rarely offer the detail, scalability and speed that decision makers need.
“Hidden within Australia’s biodiversity are genetic resources to enhance crops, new materials for manufacturing and insights into biological processes that can give industries an edge and environmental managers vital insights into how ecosystems work”.
What genomics offers environmental science
The genomics technology revolution emerged during the past decade from the convergence of advances in molecular biology, nano-engineering and data science. It has changed the face of life sciences and revolutionised medicine.
DNA is the original “big data”. It can tell us an animal or plant’s identity, condition and function, its species, how it’s feeling and what it does in the ecosystem! Just like in medicine where genomic diagnostics can help us understand and cure diseases, the information in DNA can be used to measure and understand the natural world.
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Acknowlegements
The work of the Environomics FSP is made possible through the generous support of Bioplatforms Australia.