California Institute for Biodiversity

New research suggests we've undercounted insect diversity by 2–3x. Using DNA barcoding across 1.6M tropical specimens, scientists now estimate 14–20 million insect species may exist on Earth, far beyond the previous benchmark of 6 million! Read the study: calalive.net/4voBo5B

Big news for endangered species: Colossal Biosciences & U.S. Fish and Wildlife are partnering to preserve cells, tissue, and DNA from every plant and animal under the Endangered Species Act — 2,300+ species worldwide. Read more here: bit.ly/4w4it12

Your backyard observations matter! Every species you log on iNaturalist adds to a growing record of California's biodiversity — supporting researchers and land managers statewide. No find is too small! 🪲 Image courtesy of iNaturalist: instagram.com/p/DZaROvwCQRc/…

We’re racing to collect as many species as we can, so we can protect them. Join us! Just scoop, label, and send. We’ll send you back information about what we find in your soil. Visit CalATBI.org for more info. Request a sampling kit here: cal-atbi-kit-fulfillment.Vercel.App

What's living in your backyard soil? 🌱 We're 310/1,000 samples into #SummerOfSoil — help us find out. Could be a species no one's discovered yet. Scoop. Label. Send. CalATBI.org

It's the fifth annual California State Parks Week! From June 10–14, free events at state parks across California are open to all — horseback riding, nature journaling, historical tours, and much more. RSVP for free events at castateparksweek.org

interconnectedness of the natural world. But appreciation is only the beginning. Every day, we’re working to better understand, protect, and preserve biodiversity for future generations, because what we safeguard today shapes the world of tomorrow.

Happy Earth Day! Today, we celebrate the incredible diversity of life that makes our planet so vibrant, from the smallest organisms to the largest ecosystems. At the California Institute for Biodiversity, we’re continually inspired by the beauty, resilience, and

California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory partners are collecting samples from all over California to discover and preserve California's biodiversity. Join us! calatbi.org/collect-samples

fill a major gap in our understanding of California's biodiversity and help inform conservation management planning. We look forward to its publication in the next few years! Learn more and stay up to date on other projects here: experiment.com/programs/calif…

about an entire kingdom of organisms that live there: fungi. This project is systematically documenting fungi across all eight islands for the first time, and researchers hypothesize the presence of dozens of undescribed species, including many island endemics. This work will

We've been funding innovative research projects through Experiment.com, and here's one we're excited to spotlight: "Macrofungi of the California Archipelago" by Christian Schwarz and Dean Lyons. The Channel Islands are a biodiversity hotspot, but we know almost nothing

Congratulations to Meghan Hertel on her appointment as Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife! gov.ca.gov/2026/01/29/gov…

other amazing species found this year: a deep-sea snailfish, ancient sea cow, Andean marsupial, and live-birthing toads. npr.org/2025/12/31/nx-…

just a new species, but an entirely new genus. Our work revealed that nearly 40% of all described spider species in the U.S. call California home, and there are dozens more waiting to be identified! Read the full NPR story to learn more about our spider discovery, plus four

Five incredible new species were described in 2025, and we're proud that CIB helped support the discovery of Siskiyu armilla—a new spider species found in Northern California! Through DNA analysis supported by our research project, scientists confirmed this brown spider as not

You are invited to the California All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (CalATBI) Quarterly Webinar on Dec. 10 at 2:00 pm! CalATBI is a voucher-based, DNA-powered effort to discover and catalog California's unexplored biodiversity. Registrater for free here: bit.ly/4iEwZXr

activities like land development projects. Despite the efforts of the federal government to roll back these protections, California continues to be a sanctuary for wildlife that play a crucial role in our healthy ecosystem."

for our environment, I introduced AB 454 to reinstate the provisions of the California Migratory Bird Act. This bill ensures that migratory birds native to California are protected by law from both intentional take activities such as deliberate hunting, and unintentional take ...

More great work from our biodiversity champion, Assemblymember Ash Kalra! In his latest newsletter, he celebrated the signing of the California Migratory Bird Act, legislation we proudly supported to help safeguard our ecosystems. As Kalra shared: "As a passionate advocate ...