Processing the collected material

Surber and pitfall samples

Process Surber and pitfall samples to the lowest taxonomic resolution possible. The knowledge for terrestrial invertebrates can be poor, but the family level is a minimum to be reached. Use morphospecies in case you can.

Soil and sediments for eDNA

Wearing gloves, clean the sampling equipment (e.g. shovel, sieves) with 10% bleach between samples. In the laboratory, sieve soil or sediment samples at 2 mm using material cleaned between samples (using 10% bleach). Take a subsample of about 15 g from the sieved and homogenized 2-L sample and store it at -20°C in a sterile 50-mL Falcon tube correctly labelled (see the 1000IRP recommendation for labelling, below). Avoid cross contamination of samples during the sieving procedure.

Labelling and shipment of samples

Make sure the samples shipped contain labels with a code, which you will also report on the Excel spreadsheet. For the code, use the following system:

COUNTRY–NAME–RIVER–REACH–HABITAT–REP–TYPE–DATE–PHASE

COUNTRY: Country in which the sample was collected

NAME: Surname of the responsible participant

RIVER: Name of the river where the sample was collected

REACH: Reach where sample was collected (Perennial = “P”, Intermittent = “I”)

HABITAT: Habitat where sample was collected (Channel = “Ch”, Riparian = “Ri”)

REP: Number of replicate sample (“1” or “2”)

DATE: Date sample was collected, in format DD-MM-YY

PHASE: Hydrological phase in which sample was collected (Flowing: “FLOW”, Non-flowing = “DRY”)

TYPE: Type of material (water eDNA, sediment/soil eDNA)

Shipment of eDNA samples:

Sterivex cartridges and soil/sediment samples should be stored at -20°C before shipment. Samples should be sent to on dry ice (ensure that you use enough dry ice so that the samples stay frozen during transport). The address is

DATRY Thibault

INRAE, 5 rue de la Doua

CS 20244, 69625 Villeurbanne CedexFrance

Samples should be sent on Monday and arrive in less than 36 hours. All necessary permits and authorizations should be included with the shipment (sample collection, import/export). Contact your national focal point to obtain the authorization to collect and exchange samples in agreement with the Nagoya protocol (https://absch.cbd.int/search?documentSchema=CNA) before the sampling period.