Dataset

UNESCO eDNA expedition in Coiba National Park and its Special Zone of Marine Protection (Panama), February 2023

OBIS Secretariat DNADerivedData Open in mapper Explore occurrences

This dataset contains the eDNA data collected as a part of the UNESCO eDNA expeditions in Marine World Heritage Sites project in 2022-2024. The project was coordinated in collaboration with the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) of IOC-UNESCO and the marine programme of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, and funded by the government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium). The samples were collected with citizen science eDNA sampling kits, containing a syringe and a filter, and preserved with Longmire's buffer, before sequencing at a central laboratory. Five different biomarkers were analysed, including 12SMifish, Mimammal, Teleo, 16S-Vert and COI markers. The sequences were analysed with the PacMAN pipeline and quality controlled including a validation check by local scientists and site managers as well as compared to existing knowledge on species distributions in OBIS and GBIF. The full sampling protocols and materials are available on the project website (https://www.unesco.org/en/edna-training-materials?hub=66910), and the bioinformatics pipeline is on github (https://github.com/iobis/PacMAN-pipeline). The data can also be explored on the eDNA expeditions dashboard (https://dashboard.ednaexpeditions.org/).

Citation: Lorena Lopez A, E. Diaz- Ferguson E, Flores E, Gálvez D, Suominen S, Provoost P, Gillard E, Douvere F, Appeltans W (2026). UNESCO eDNA expedition in Coiba National Park and its Special Zone of Marine Protection (Panama), February 2023. Version 2.2. OBIS Secretariat. Occurrence dataset. https://doi.org/10.25607/ommekg

Published: April 29, 2026 at 08:40

First registration: December 08, 2024 at 09:59

License: To the extent possible under law, the publisher has waived all rights to these data and has dedicated them to the Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

URL: https://ipt.obis.org/secretariat/resource?r=edna-coiba-national-park

Contacts:

Ana Lorena Lopez
Dirección de Areas Protegidas y Biodiversidad

Edgardo E. Diaz- Ferguson
Estación Científica Coiba AIP

Eric Flores
Estación Científica Coiba AIP

Dumas Gálvez
Estación Científica Coiba AIP

Saara Suominen
UNESCO-IOC

Pieter Provoost
UNESCO-IOC

Elle Gillard
UNESCO-WHC

Fanny Douvere
UNESCO-WHC

Ward Appeltans
UNESCO-IOC

165,332
occurrence records
165,332
sequences
710
taxa
418
species

Taxa

Missing and invalid fields

Field Missing Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters 165,332
100.0%
maximumDepthInMeters 165,332
100.0%
minimumDepthInMeters 165,332
100.0%
scientificNameID 93,284 14
56.4%

Quality flags

The OBIS data quality flags are documented at https://github.com/iobis/obis-qc.

Flag Dropped Records
NO_DEPTH 165,332
100.0%
NO_MATCH 92,853
56.2%
ON_LAND 71,686
43.4%
NO_ACCEPTED_NAME 29,478
17.8%
MARINE_UNSURE 103
0.1%
NOT_MARINE 26
0.0%
WORMS_ANNOTATION_RESOLVABLE 2
0.0%

Measurement types

DNA derived data