Integrating Biobanking Into Conservation Practice: The Development and Impact of the EAZA Biobank

Zoological biobanks are becoming essential tools in conservation, offering a means to preserve genetic material and support in situ population management amid accelerating biodiversity loss. With rapid advances in genomics, cryopreservation, and assisted reproduction technologies, biobanks enable a proactive approach to providing insurance against genetic erosion and facilitating future research, supplementation, and genetic rescue. However, to be effective, zoological biobanks must be purposefully designed, strategically integrated into conservation frameworks such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), and regularly evaluated for coverage and impact. Using the EAZA Biobank as an example, we outline the structure, development, and collaborative foundations that have enabled its rapid growth, built on community support and conservation impact. Leveraging EAZA's institutional network and data-sharing platforms such as ZIMS, the Biobank employs a decentralized, four-hub model of zoological institutions storing samples. A gap analysis, integrating threat status, breeding programs, genomic data repositories, and phylogenetic diversity, highlights current sampling strengths and deficiencies and guides future collection priorities. The integration of specimen-specific genomic data and the EAZA Biobank Cryonetwork of institutions with expertise in storing and generating gametes and cell lines will expand the Biobank's role in population management and conservation. Zoological biobanks must now evolve alongside advances in biotechnology and genomics. Sample collection strategies should serve conservation needs and anticipate future applications in genomics, cryobiology, and conservation medicine, linking biospecimens with the wealth of data generated from them. This approach should be scalable beyond EAZA, forming the foundation of a global standardized biobanking framework. Ultimately, zoological biobanks are not merely repositories of the past-they are essential infrastructures shaping the future potential of species conservation.