Global patterns of biodiversity and respective driving processes are largely unknown for any organisms. For arthropods, in particular, large-scale biogeography and macroecology studies are in their infancy. Following a standardized and optimized sampling protocol (COBRA), a number of teams with different goals and interests are now contributing to rapidly fill this knowledge gap.
COBRA – Conservation Oriented Biodiversity Rapid Assessment
The COBRA is an optimized and standardized sampling protocol that intends to be a future reference for biodiversity assessment of arthropods. For now it is mostly focusing on spiders and has been used across Portugal, Spain, Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Finland, Colombia, Ghana, Tanzania and La Reunion (150 sites, map is not complete). We hope to expand it even further in the near future. Want to join? Check our COBRA cookbook.