We know very little about how species and entire communities function and influence each other. At the same time, species and entire populations are disappearing at an unprecedented rate all over the world.
Innovative
monitoring
Using innovative monitoring approaches and temporary "bioblitzes" in primeval forests and nature reserves, on fields and meadows or on renaturalised landfill sites, LIB researchers are working with partners to record and record the biodiversity of species and habitats. They store insect samples together with water and soil samples in an environmental sample bank. In this way, they record a picture of the state of our current natural environment.
Window into the
past
In perspective, this environmental specimen bank opens windows into the past of ecosystems, species and populations and forms the basis for understanding changes in biodiversity. DNA metabarcoding enables us to quickly and almost completely identify insect communities from mixed samples with a large number of individuals of different species.
The more complete the entries in databases on habitats are, the closer experts from molecular biology and taxonomy work together, the more precisely habitats and their changes can be traced.