Identification Services

Identification of species in the course of scientific surveys

Creating a species list or species abundance matrix is the first step in analysing ecological data. Even though metabarcoding enables fast and reliable species identification, it does not provide information on the abundance of individual species. Analyses based on various abundance-based diversity indices are therefore no longer possible for metabarcoding data. Changes in species composition are often not only reflected by the absence or addition of species, but can also be based on fluctuations in the number of individuals. Traditional species identification by specialised experts is therefore still an indispensable tool.

The processing of collected material also offers the possibility of preserving the animals in the long term. Such scientific collections can be of decisive importance for future long-term analyses, as they provide an insight into the former species composition and thus enable comparisons to be made.

Analysing photographic material can also provide a valuable insight into the biodiversity of certain areas. We therefore not only identify collected specimens, but also offer photo identification, provided the photo quality is sufficient and features relevant to identification are recognisable.