Insect Biome Atlas

About the project

The Insect Biome Atlas (IBA) is a large-scale insect collection project that will take place in Sweden and Madagascar. The main aim of the project is to describe in detail the insect faunas of these two biologically and geologically very different countries. The collection phase will last one full year in each country, starting in January 2019. Insects will be collected using malaise traps: 200 malaise traps will be set up in Sweden and 50 in Madagascar. Several other types of samples and ecological measurements will also be collected at the trap sites to gather a full understanding of the ecological roles of the organisms that comprise the insect biome in these countries. In total, the IBA will collect more than 8000 insect community samples.

The identification of all insects and the organisms they interact with, such as pathogens as well as symbiotic fungi and bacteria, will be achieved using novel DNA techniques. The results and material collected during the IBA project will be useful for scientists interested in systematics, taxonomy and insect ecology and evolution for many years to come.

In Sweden the Malaise traps will be managed by over 100 volunteers, which makes this project one of the largest citizen science projects to take place in Scandinavia.