Collaboration
Dr. Vlatka Mičetić Stanković
Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
Dr. Branka Bruvo Mađarić
Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Elmidae are the dominant beetle family in running waters. Elmid species are widely used as bioindicators for assessing water quality, and for monitoring running water ecosystems. Yet, many species are difficult to identify morphologically, and preliminary molecular studies have shown that there is a considerable number of cryptic species in various genera of Elmidae.
In Austria, 21 elmid species have been recorded so far. During this project, numerous samples of altogether 17 species from six genera, collected in seven states of Austria, were barcoded. The DNA barcodes of Austrian Elmidae will contribute to the knowledge of potentially rare, endemic and/or endangered species of water beetles in Central Europe, being essential in establishing projects on conservation of lotic biotopes.
Furthermore, through the cooperation with CROBOL better insight will be gained into the processes of speciation of water beetles in the Dinaric Karst, which represents one of the most ecologically and hydromorphologically interesting areas of Europe. Additionally, important taxonomic questions will be solved via molecular and morphological analyses of Elmidae samples from various European countries.
Dr. Vlatka Mičetić Stanković
Croatian Natural History Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
Dr. Branka Bruvo Mađarić
Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Are names written in the genes? We pursued this question at the Long Night of Museums on Saturday, October 5, 2024, until late into the night! Different aspects of DNA barcoding were presented by the ABOL coordination team and the central research laboratories: Visitors were welcome to try extract DNA from tomatoes live, put together […]
The last ABOL BioBlitz 2024 during the Days of Biodiversity took place on the first weekend in August in the Hohe Tauern National Park. In almost traditionally bad weather, around 75 experts swarmed out to record biodiversity in the Habachtal in the Salzburg part of the Hohe Tauern National Park. The breaks in the rain […]
On the first weekend in July, the ABOL-BioBlitz was a guest at the GEO Day of Biodiversity in the Geopark Karawanken, this year for the first time in southern Carinthia. After the welcome and introductory words in Bleiburg, the Globasnitzbachtal was investigated in the afternoon and evening of the first day. There was something for […]