Archiv für den Monat: Januar 2016

ZSM runs DNA barcoding training at the MZB in Cibinong, West Java

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Staff members of the MZB participating in a training course on DNA barcoding.

The ZSM is currently running a training course at the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), Research Center for Biology – LIPI in Cibinong, Indonesia. The IndoBioSys coordinator at the ZSM, Bruno Cancian, is instructing Indonesian project partners to process voucher specimens according to a standardised protocol that was developed by the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB) in Guelph, Canada. The procedure is part of a high-throughput workflow that was established at the ZSM as part of several large-scale DNA barcoding projects, including the Barcoding Fauna Bavarica and the German Barcode of Life projects. The optimised workflow enabled the ZSM to process nearly 200.000 specimens since the first barcoding projects commenced at the ZSM about 10 years ago.

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Participant of the training course processing specimens obtained from Malaise trap samples.

The preparation of voucher specimens for DNA barcoding involves image capture, recording of collecting data, sampling (leg picking), and transfer of samples to PCR plates that are subsequently processed at the CCDB. The data are maintained and managed using the Barcode of Life Database System as database management system that allows Indonesian and German project partners to access and analyse the data as soon as they are available, anywhere and at any time.

Specimens for barcoding were obtained during an expedition of Indonesian, German, and British specialists. Most of the material, primarily insects that comprise the largest number unknown organisms in the Indonesian fauna, was collected using Malaise traps. These traps are the most efficient method for obtaining a lot of insects in a very short time frame.

IndoBioSys project is a joint project of the ZSM in Munich and headed by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin on the German side, and the MZB/LIPI on the Indonesian side. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Indonesian State Ministry of Research and Technology. It aims at establishing a novel high-throughput biodiversity discovery pipeline that is based on DNA barcoding as efficient means to assess the biodiversity of a region that is among the world’s top biodiversity hotspots.

DNA barcoding of Indonesian biodiversity – the IndoBioSys project

IndoBioSys – Indonesian Biodiversity Discovery System – aims at developing new approaches to discover and describe Indonesian biodiversity. The ZSM is, in cooperation with the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology – LIPI in Cibinong, Indonesia, establishing a novel high-throughput biodiversity discovery pipeline that is based on DNA barcoding as efficient means to assess the biodiversity of region that is among the world’s top biodiversity hotspots.

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Malaise trap for collecting insects set up in the study area

The first field expedition to the study area, the Halimun-Salak National Park in West Java, was conducted during September and October 2015. A team of specialists from Germany, Austria, the UK, and their project partners from the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology – LIPI (MZB) collected their taxa of interest using a range of different standardised methods, including Malaise traps, net sweeping, and light trapping.

Novie Safita from Universitas Andalas in Padang, Sumatra, taking images of voucher specimens with a Keyence VHX-5000 digital microstope at the ZSM.

The samples that were obtained during the field trip are currently being processed at the MZB in Cibinong and the ZSM in Munich. Since November 2015, nearly 4,000 samples have been processed. The first results reflect the high quality of the samples and are most promising for establishing an efficient and standardized system for species identification of the poorly known Indonesian fauna.

The majority of specimens that are present in the Malaise trap and sweep net samples belong to groups of organisms that are known to be very diverse in tropical countries but very little known yet. It is estimated that well over 90% of the species discovered as part of the project will be new to science, in particular Hymenoptera, Diptra, and Coleoptera. All barcoding voucher specimens are deposited at the MZB in Cibinong, Indonesia.

IndoBioSys oucher specimens processed for DNA barcoding (from top left to bottom right (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Mnesiloba, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Polynesia, Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Hymenoptera: Chrysididae, Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae, Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Tristeirometra, Coleoptera).

IndoBioSys voucher specimens processed for DNA barcoding (to row from left to right : Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Mnesiloba, Coleoptera; middle row: Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Polynesia, Hymenoptera: Apoidea, Hymenoptera: Chrysididae; bottom row: Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae, Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Tristeirometra, Coleoptera).

Stefan Schmidt / ZSM
Olga Schmidt / ZSM

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Contact
Dr. Bruno Cancian, coordinator
indobiosys-zsm@zsm.mwn.de

Verleihung des 17. R.J.H. Hintelmann Wissenschaftspreises für zoologische Systematik

Am 15. Januar 2016 wurde der mit 5000,- EURO dotierte R.J.H. Hintelmann Wissenschaftspreis für zoologische Systematik zum 17. Mal vergeben, und zwar an Dr. Emmanuel Toussaint (Paris / Kansas).  Die Preisvergabe erfolgte im Rahmen einer feierlichen Abendveranstaltung druch Frau Elisabeth Hintelmann, der Stifterin des Preises.

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Frau Hintelmann mit dem Preisträger des 17. R.J.H. Hintelmann Wissenschaftspreises für zoologische Systematik, Dr. Emmanuel Toussaint. Foto: Stefan Schmidt.

Dr. Toussaint hat seine Dokorarbeit an der ZSM verfasst, und zwar über die Evolution verschiedener Insektengruppen des indomalayisch-australasiatischen Archipels. Dabei verstand es Dr. Toussaint, einen Bogen von integrativer Taxonomie zur modernsten Systematik und Evolutionsforschung zu spannnen.  Der hohe Anspruch seiner Forschungsarbeit spiegelt sich in einer langen Liste von Publikationen in internationalen “Topjournalen” wider.

Dr. Toussaint forscht derzeit im Rahmen seines ersten Postdoktorandenprojektes an der Kansas University an südamerikanischen Insekten, unterhält aber sehr enge Beziehungen zur ZSM, aus denen sich laufend neue Publikationen und Projekte ergeben.

Michael Balke / ZSM