The Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) has developed a powerful, visual, data-rich information system for South African rivers called the Freshwater Biodiversity information System (FBIS). JRS support will allow enhanced functionality, biodiversity modules, spatial layers and filters, dashboards and reporting, to enable users to search and extract data, add data, and easily generate reports. FBIS harvests data from GBIF and links to IUCN for species threat status, as well as hydrological and citizen science platforms. FBIS is an open source system that aims to become the best source for South African freshwater biodiversity data.

The previous phase of this grant, funded by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation and SANBI, and implemented by the FRC and Kartoza, has made great strides to expand and visualize data for freshwater systems. Highlights of the latest version include (1) new functionality of dashboards and map interface (2) additional data modules and a substantial increase in data quantity and quality, (3) an improved set of spatial layers and filters for querying the data and (4) the inclusion of complementary third party data sets.

The system serves data on taxon occurrences and abundances, as well as on derived indices like river ecosystem health, or threat and endemism, and associated abiotic data, frequently used in management and conservation plans. FBIS includes two legacy South African databases which were previously inaccessible to the freshwater community. FBIS includes 6 base layers (terrain, topography, aerial photograph, satellite hybrid, plain B & W, plain greyscale) and in excess of 40 spatial layers (available to both contextualize and filter the biodiversity data).

• Over half a million biodiversity records are now available in FBIS.
• Over 100,000 abiotic data records associated with the biodiversity data.
• 367 freshwater users of FBIS from 171 organizations. 
• Increased collaboration in the development of new modules and work to integrate FBIS into national freshwater decision-support tools. Data from the FBIS is being used to develop the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment National Screening Tool for fish and associated Environmental Assessment guidelines, which will be published in early 2022.
• Improvement in the technical functionality of FBIS for long-term sustainability.
• The Freshwater Bioinformatics in Africa Seminar Series, hosted by FRC in 2021, provided a platform for sharing work and information among JRS grantees in Africa. All 36 presentations are available on YouTube.
• FRC produced a short film “The Life of a Data Point” inspired by the Freshwater Bioinformatics in Africa Seminar Series hosted in 2021 and 2022.  The film is available on YouTube.
• Frontiers March 2023 scientific paper : How the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) is supporting national freshwater fish conservation decisions in South Africa
•  Data mobilized through the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) has more than doubled the number of freshwater fish records for South Africa on (GBIF) – Earth’s largest and most impactful biodiversity data resource.  Articled published in the Journal of Limnology: The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (fish data): a georeferenced dataset of freshwater fishes occurring in South Africa.

Dr. Helen Dallas is the Executive Director of the Freshwater Research Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town and is a Research Associate of the University of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela University. As a founding Director of the Freshwater Research Centre, Dallas has been instrumental in growing the non-profit, which undertakes collaborative research in the region by linking with universities, NGOs, government organizations and consulting firms, to advance the understanding of freshwater systems while developing capacity through internship and post-graduate programs. Helen has over 30 years’ experience working on and leading collaborative research projects on the ecology, conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems in southern Africa.  She has been instrumental in the development of aquatic biomonitoring protocols in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. Her interest in the physico-chemical aspects of aquatic ecosystems directed her research into understanding biotic responses and vulnerability of aquatic organisms and ecosystems to global climate change. She is enthusiastic about the value of long-term data sets for freshwater ecosystems and has been involved in the development of a number of databases serving freshwater data.