Testing the Global Malaise Trap Program – How well does the current barcode reference library identify flying insects in Germany?

Abstract

BackgroundBiodiversity patterns are inherently complex and difficult to comprehensively assess. Yet, deciphering shifts in species composition through time and space are crucial for efficient and successful management of ecosystem services, as well as for predicting change. To better understand species diversity patterns, Germany participated in the Global Malaise Trap Program, a world-wide collection program for arthropods using this sampling method followed by their DNA barcode analysis. Traps were deployed at two localities: “Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald” in Bavaria, the largest terrestrial Natura 2000 area in Germany, and the nature conservation area Landskrone, an EU habitats directive site in the Rhine Valley. Arthropods were collected from May to September to track shifts in the taxonomic composition and temporal succession at these locations.New informationIn total, 37,274 specimens were sorted and DNA barcoded, resulting in 5,301 different genetic clusters (BINs, Barcode Index Numbers, proxy for species) with just 7.6% of their BINs shared. Accumulation curves for the BIN count versus the number of specimens analyzed suggest that about 63% of the potential diversity at these sites was recovered with this single season of sampling. Diversity at both sites rose from May (496 & 565 BINs) to July (1,236 & 1,522 BINs) before decreasing in September (572 & 504 BINs). Unambiguous species names were assigned to 35% of the BINs (1,868) which represented 12,640 specimens. Another 7% of the BINs (386) with 1,988 specimens were assigned to genus, while 26% (1,390) with 12,092 specimens were only placed to a family. These results illustrate how a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library can identify unknown specimens, but also reveal how this potential is constrained by gaps in the quantity and quality of records in BOLD, especially for Hymenoptera and Diptera. As voucher specimens are available for morphological study, we invite taxonomic experts to assist in the identification of unnamed BINs.

A DNA barcode library for 5,200 German flies and midges (Insecta: Diptera) and its implications for metabarcoding‐based biomonitoring

“…By contrast, within just a few years, this study provided an interim taxonomic identification system for half of the German Diptera fauna. Although half these species still lack a Linnean name, their BIN assignments are useful “taxonomic handles” for work in ecology, conservation biology and other biodiversity research (see Geiger, Moriniere, et al, ). The study demonstrates the efficiency of DNA barcoding in the identification of Central European Diptera, reinforcing the results of earlier studies.…”

“…Malaise traps are widely used as method of choice to collect arthropods and especially flying insects for biodiversity assessments in terrestrial ecosystems, with Diptera being among the most commonly caught taxa (Doczkal, ; Hallmann et al, ; Hebert et al, ; Karlsson, Pape, Johansson, Liljeblad, & Ronquist, ; Matthews & Matthews, ; Ssymank et al, ). The analysis of specimens from two Malaise traps deployed for a single summer in Germany within the Global Malaise Trap Program (GMTP; http://biodiversitygenomics.net/projects/gmp/) revealed similar trends; here Diptera was the most diverse order being represented by 2,500 species, slightly more than half of all the species that were collected and 70.3% of all individuals (26,189) that were analysed (Geiger, Moriniere, et al, ).…”

“…Even in Germany, a country with more than 250 years of taxonomic and faunistic research activity, many groups remain poorly known. This gap, which hampers ecological baseline research, is particularly serious for the two hyperdiverse insect orders, the Diptera and Hymenoptera (Geiger, Moriniere, et al, ; Klausnitzer, ). With at least 9,500 (Schumann, Bährmann, & Stark, ; Schumann, Doczkal, & Ziegler, ) and 9,600 (Dathe & Blank, ) recorded species in Germany, respectively, these two groups comprise over half of its insect alpha diversity (Völkl, Blick, Kornacker, & Martens, ).…”

New and poorly known Palaearctic fungus gnats (Diptera, Sciaroidea)

“…The new species has been observed from eastern Finnish Lapland, the north boreal ecoregion, and from Germany, Bavaria (see Geiger et al 2016). It is likely that O. boreoalpina sp.n.…”

The Use of Malaise Trap for the Study of the Beetles Fauna (Insecta: Coleoptera) in the Territory of National Park «Khvalynsky» Saratov Province

“…Таким образом, применение ловушки Мале-за на модельном участке при изучении локальной колеоптерофауны в течение нескольких сезонов показывает неоднородность фауны во времени и пространстве и наличие в ее составе лобильного комплекса видов [27], роль которых в формирова-нии конкретного сообщества, вероятно, невели-ка. Но в целом применение ловушки в изучении биоразнообразия отдельных регионов -это необ-ходимая практика в исследовании экосистем, что подтверждено многими публикациями [13][14][15], включая те, что проведены с применением со-временных методов молекулярно-генетических исследований [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”