ABOL BioBlitz 2025
within the Days of Biodiversity
5 BioBlitzes
took place
Welcome
In 2025, ABOL will again participate with ABOL BioBlitz campaigns on the Days of Biodiversity (TdA). On this page we want to inform you about it and encourage you to participate. The content is continuously updated.
Dear biodiversity enthusiasts
The Days of Biodiversity (TdA), which take place in various Austrian federal states, have been among the most important events for years, on the one hand in informing the public about the importance of biodiversity and, on the other hand, successively improving the data basis for the occurring species of various regions in Austria.
A whole series of TdAs are planned for 2024 and ABOL will participate again this year. The aim of the ABOL BioBlitzes is to generate DNA barcode sequences from as many of the animals (and fungi) that are collected and determined by the experts as possible and and enter the data into the international DNA barcode of life database (BOLD).
Presumably, we will again contribute an ABOL BioBlitz at this years ÖEG Insect Camp. The annual insect camp serves to promote entomological research and taxonomy. Young scientists meet with experts to collect and identify insects and arachnids. In 2022, 2023 and 2024 ABOL took part already and generated DNA barcodes from collected animals and carried out a metabarcoding approach using a malaise trap (blog article ->HERE, HERE and HERE).
We hope that many of the experts will join the ABOL BioBlitz campaigns. With your taxonomic expertise you can make a valuable contribution to the genetic recording of Austrian biodiversity! A well-founded data basis is more important than ever to get the biodiversity crisis under control.
Your ABOL coordination team
What does ABOL offer the experts (and the organizers)?
This year ABOL can again provide some plates for sequencing. Of course we are careful to make the campaign as efficient as possible. Therefore we favour
(i) groups of organisms with a high chance of sequencing success,
(ii) groups of organisms where costs are calculable and low,
(iii) species of which there are no DNA barcodes from Austria, and
(iv) organisms in which the sampling effort is feasible
(v) organisms that have not (!) been sampled at previous BioBlitzes.
The focus will be on insects and fungi, but we do not exclude other groups of organisms – experts for other groups of organisms (plants, invertebrates away from insects, etc.) please contact the ABOL coordination team in advance.
In general, we would like to clarify the procedure in advance with you (e.g. labeling of the samples and the reference organism, photographing the reference organisms, deposit of the voucher copies, etc.).
Dates
June 13. & 14. - TdA Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald
Location: Baden bei Wien
July 4. & 5. - TdA Biosphere Reserve Nockberge
Location: Bad Kleinkirchheim – Diversity in settlement area
July 11. & 12. - TdA Karawanken
Location: Mittagskogel
July 18.-20. - TdA National Park Hohe Tauern
Location: Gradental (Schobergruppe) in the National Park municipality Großkirchheim
!! Again this year: Data Workshops !!
We again offer online workshops on the International Barcode Platform BOLD and the handling of DNA barcoding data. The course is open to everyone – inexperienced as well as advanced DNA barcoders learn and practice handling sequence data on BOLD, performing the analyzes themselves and understanding them better. This is how your own BioBlitz data should offer its secrets! If you are interested, please send an email to florian.ackerl@nhm.at.
Further information can be found here:
Information about the practical procedure
Experts who agree to participate will as usual
- collect their organism group
- determine the species
Unlike previous days of biodiversity, we ask you
- to sample tissue for DNA barcoding from interesting species – can also be done together (for example, a leg of an insect in a tube with alcohol with the same numbering as the specimen copy – it is of crucial importance to document which specimen has been sampled)
- to transfer the metadata to ABOL (location data, date, collector, determiner, etc.) – we will provide forms for download on individual dates
- to store the reference specimen in a publicly accessible, scientific collection (museum) for keeping traceability
- to provide a photo of the specimen (is required for BOLD)
Experts get from ABOL
- preservation liquid (alcohol 95%) and sample tubes
- assistance with sampling
- samples are prepared by the ABOL team and sent to Canada for sequencing (CCDB, http://ccdb.ca/) – shipping and sequencing costs are covered by ABOL
- the metadata will be integrated into the ABOL database by the ABOL team and
- transferred to the international DNA barcoding database BOLD (the data will be made public after publication of the results of the TdA in BOLD, at the latest however 2 years after the BioBlitz action)
Coordination & contact
The ABOL coordination team will participate in the Days of Biodiversity, depending on the possibility and with different cast, provide information on the project, etc. and be available for questions at any time. Vivi (Victoria Kargl) is the main person responsible and the first contact person for the ABOL BioBlitz campaigns, but the rest of the team is also available at any time. Please contact us if you have any questions and/or want to participate!
Victoria Kargl
BioBlitz coordination
victoria.kargl@nhm.at
Nikolaus Szucsich
ABOL manager
nikolaus.szucsich@nhm.at
Michaela Sonnleitner
taxonomic coordination
michaela.sonnleitner@nhm.at
Florian Ackerl
data curation
florian.ackerl@nhm.at
Tel.-Nr. 01 523 7302 – 135
abol@nhm.at
ABOL BioBlitzes are listed on the Austrian Citiuzen Science platform Österreich forscht.
That were the ABOL BioBlitzes from 2019 to 2024 – a review
2024
in addition to 5 days of biodiversity, we again performed an ABOL BioBlitz at the insect camp. The creation of the DNA barcodes is currently still in progress. We would like to thank all organizers and everyone who provided samples!
5 ABOL BioBlitzes
- Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald – Vienna, Liesing
- TdA Tyrol has been cancelled
- GEO day Carinthia – Geo park Karawanken, South Carinthia
- Biosphere Reserve Nockberge – lake Windebensee
- National Park Hohe Tauern – Habachtal, Salzburg
2023
in addition to 5 days of biodiversity, we again performed an ABOL BioBlitz at the insect camp. The creation of the DNA barcodes is currently still in progress. We would like to thank all organizers and everyone who provided samples!
6 ABOL BioBlitzes
- Vienna – Garden plot, Kagran
- Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald – Klosterneuburg
- Insect camp – Nature reserve Weißbach at Lofer, Salzburg
- Biosphere Reserve Nockberge – Innerkrems
- Tyrol – Leutasch
- National Park Hohe Tauern – Defereggen valley, East Tyrol
2022
After two years of pandemic 2022 the Days of Biodiversity could take place again in the usual way including offers for the public, e.g. in the Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald.
The analyses of the samples are currently underway.
4 ABOL BioBlitzes
- Biosphere Reserve Wienerwald – Vienna, Ottakring
- Tyrol – Ehrwalder Becken
- Biosphere Reserve Nockberge – St. Lorenzen ob Reichenau
- National Park Hohe Tauern – Malta valley
2021
Most of the Days of Biodiversity with the ABOL BioBlitzes could take place again in 2021 – despite the ongoing pandemic. Unfortunately, this did not apply to the respective events for the interested public.
ABOL BioBlitzes 2021 in numbers
2020
Due to the Covid19 pandemic, in 2020 a few Days of Biodiversity and the associated ABOL BioBlitzes were canceled or postponed. We are pleased that some events still took place, albeit without offers for the public.
ABOL BioBlitz 2020 in numbers
2019
In 2019, the ABOL-BioBlitz format was launched in order to combine the taxonomic expertise of the participants on the Days of Biodiversity with the generation of DNA barcodes. In this way we were able to improve the data basis for Austria, at the same time strengthen the network of the Austrian biodiversity community and make DNA barcoding better known as an innovative approach for species identification.
We can look back on successful ABOL BioBlitzes on 6 Days of Biodiversity & 2 additional test runs in 2019. Numerous experts followed the call and provided samples for the creation of DNA barcodes. Subsequently, the ABOL coordination team prepared the samples and sent them to the CCDB in Canada for sequencing. In addition, the associated metadata was collected and transmitted to BOLD, the international DNA database. The whole process took quite some time – but all ABOL BioBlitz samples have now been sequenced and the results entered in BOLD. There they can be viewed and edited by the participants – Oliver Macek has written a BOLD manual for this, which is -> available for download here.
ABOL-BioBlitz 2019 in numbers
Data set 2019 & 2020
Most of the DNA barcode reference data generated by the ABOL BioBlitzes 2019 and 2020 has already been published. They can be viewed via the following link:
dx.doi.org/10.5883/DS-ABOLBB19
The graphic on the right shows the taxonomic classification of the data obtained. Coleoptera and Hymenoptera lead the field. The data reflect to some extent not only the abundance of the taxonomic groups but also the expertise of the participants. The data make a significant contribution to the database of Austrian biodiversity. We thank all contributors!
In addition, a joint publication for the Acta ZooBot on ABOL BioBlitzes was written as part of the publication of the data ->DOWNLOAD
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