NICCO: New infrastructure and knowledge transfer to build physical and digital collections for insects of the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot - A pilot for two ecologically and economically relevant insect taxa: chalcid wasps (Chalcidoidea) and grassho

In times of biodiversity and specifically insect decline, efficient documentation of diversity is of high importance. Such documentation is traditionally done with insect collections in museums, but more recently, especially since the establishment of DNA barcoding, is supplemented by tissue and DNA banks and sequence repositories. While Western and Northern European diversity is fairly well documented in diverse types of collections, the much more diverse regions of the planet lack good collections and taxonomists. This is even true for Eastern Europe, where the Caucasus represents one of the 25 original biodiversity hotspots. In order to propose effective conservation measures, sustainable documentation of biodiversity is key. A pilot project is proposed to build physical specimen reference collections, which are supplemented by tissue and DNA collections, using grasshoppers and chalcid wasps as model taxa. All specimens will be further DNA barcoded to build a comprehensive reference database for species from these taxa for the Caucasus. These reference collections will be curated according to European standards and will serve as important scientific and conservation resource for the region; further, the collections will be used to train students and other scientists in taxonomy during workshops and will serve as resource for biodiversity studies in the future. It is thought to serve as model for other taxa and countries in the region to promote sustainable biodiversity research with local experts.

Drittmittelgeber: VW Stiftung
Projektverantwortliche: Martin Husemann, George Japoshvili