Neil Ward, Vice President and General Manager at PacBio, outlines the potential of genomic sequencing to understand and address threats to wildlife. The past few decades have seen biodiversity decline at an alarming rate, stemming from human activities like land use change and habitat pollution, combined with the effects of climate change. Subsequently, global biodiversity intactness has fallen to 75%, markedly under the agreed safe limit of 90% for warding off an ecological recession. Wildlife in the UK is equally as vulnerable; since 1970, the abundance of UK priority species has declined by 60%, making it the worst of the G7 countries. But there is hope. Innovations in biodiversity genomics have the potential to help scientists address threats to biodiversity. With highly accurate genomic sequencing, researchers gain molecular-level insights into organisms, so they can investigate species’ health and population dynamics. Such granular data powers early and targeted action for endangered species, including conservation strategies such as breeding programmes and reforesting initiatives. How to unravel biodiversity with genomics Biodiversity genomics helps researchers understand why some species …