Poor data stewardship will hinder global genetic diversity surveillance

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Biodiversity Science
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Genomic data archives are rapidly expanding, offering potential for long-term genetic diversity monitoring.
• Current genomic datasets are crucial for establishing baselines for future biodiversity assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of archived genomic data for genetic biodiversity surveillance.
• To identify the extent of missing spatiotemporal metadata in public genomic repositories.

Main Methods:

• Assessed the largest genomic data repository for wild and domesticated eukaryote species.
• Analyzed the availability of spatiotemporal metadata (geospatial coordinates, collection years).
• Scoured published literature to supplement missing metadata for a subset of datasets.

Main Results:

• 86% of archived genomic datasets lacked necessary spatiotemporal metadata for biodiversity surveillance.
• Only 33% of datasets had complete geospatial and temporal information; 39% with place names.
• Manual data recovery from publications was labor-intensive and yielded limited results.

Conclusions:

• A significant metadata gap exists in archived genomic data, hindering genetic biodiversity surveillance.
• Improved data input processes, updated deposition policies, and community awareness are critical.
• Addressing the metadata gap is essential to preserve current genetic biodiversity records for future research.