METABUG: Monitoring insects with Malaise traps and DNA metabarcoding

Insect populations are under pressure—some even warn of an insect apocalypse. In Flanders and across Europe, monitoring typically focuses on large, visible species like butterflies and dragonflies, while the vast majority—tiny flies, wasps, cicadas—go largely untracked. With tens of thousands of species in Flanders alone, traditional monitoring is labour-intensive and slow. METABUG uses Malaise traps (interception traps) DNA metabarcoding to build a European pipeline: from trap site selection and genetic identification to database creation and reporting tools. We’ll also explore how citizen science can support fieldwork.