A training course with international participation: BioDATA workshop “Accelerating biodiversity research through DNA barcodes, collection, and observation data” was held from 17 to 21 April at the Training and Experimental Base of the University of Forestry, Yundola. The event, which is a part of a series of international courses held in different countries, was organized by the Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics of BAS under the BULCode project (with the head of the project Sen. Asst. Prof. Georgi Bonchev, PhD), with the participation of lecturers from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (Assoc. Prof. Dmitry Shchigel, Laura Russell); University of Oslo, Norway (Prof. Hugo de Boer, Dr. Stefaniya Kamenova); University of Helsinki, Finland (Dr. Dag Endresen, Dr. Helena Virta), Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research of BAS (Assoc. Prof. Ina Aneva), University of Forestry (Prof. Peter Zhelev).
The training course was attended by 33 young scientists at different levels of study – Bachelors, Masters, PhD students from different countries.
In an intensive teamwork, participants learned practical skills and were introduced to:
- Principles of biodiversity data acquisition, processing and publication platforms, criteria for conducting open access data science
- Principles of DNA barcoding and metabarcoding as a DNA marker technology to support taxonomic research – sample collection, molecular work, data analysis and publication
- Use of the BOLD (Barcode of Life Database) system for storage and analysis of DNA barcode data.
A Bioblitz competition on observation and data capturing during fieldwork was organized, led by Assoc. Prof. Ina Aneva and Prof. Peter Zhelev. 1454 observations were made and 471 species were identified (plants, insects, fungi, mollusks, birds), which placed the course in Bulgaria in second place out of all the series of international courses held so far.
