This initiative aims to enable the identification of the species-level contents of compound samples from the Arctic, without the need for massive sorting and without taking the scarce time of expert taxonomists. The ARCDYN project develops these tools with the aim of improving both past and future long-term biomonitoring of insects in Greenland.
As a proof of concept, the project applies the tools to the arthropod samples from the biomonitoring programme of Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring. We have already developed CO1 markers for the species complement of Zackenberg (Wirta et al. 2015, Molecular Ecology Resources), and are now collaborating on developing full mitogenomes from all arthropod species of Zackenberg, encompassing about one-third of all arthropod species of Greenland. The project aims to adapt current monitoring protocols to the new techniques, and to develop adequate models of resultant data. As of January 2015, the project is funded by the Academy of Finland.
Researchers: