Lost species
Not reliably observed in a decade or more. We mount targeted searches and publish what we find. Or what we don't.
Biodiversity research
Conserving nature's lost, rare, and understudied.
Lost, rare, understudied, and endangered species. Running out of time, and out of attention. We do the science their futures depend on.
Photo RARElab
Our work
Species are being lost faster than they are being studied.
Many species are disappearing before we know them. Some have been out of sight for decades. Others are endangered, but basic knowledge of their biology and ecology is missing.
RARElab studies them. We have our own team, and we work alongside academic institutions, local experts, and citizen scientists.
Focus areas
47 species received nearly half of all single-species conservation funding in 2024. We work on the rest.
Understudied species
So little known they can't be assessed for extinction risk. We do the unglamorous fieldwork: basic biology, distribution, behaviour.
Endangered species
Listed as threatened, but still missing the data conservation depends on. We work with local experts and citizen scientists to fill those gaps.
Projects
What we're working on.
From the field
A collaboration with Opwall
As we face unprecedented challenges in biodiversity conservation, RARElab is teaming up with Opwall in a new partnership to demonstrate how combining different approaches and expertise can create more effective solutions for protecting our…
News
More from the lab
Feb 2025
Taxonomic biases in conservation: How research and funding leave most species behind
Conservation efforts are vital for protecting biodiversity, yet they overwhelmingly favour a small subset of species. Two recent studies reveal a troubling pattern: conservation…
ReadAug 2024
Meet the Founders: Annika Neuhaus
I grew up in a family of nature lovers. My father, a microbiologist, passed on his enthusiasm for animals, plants and ecosystems to me…
Read