PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Thomas Hörren
AU  - Martin Sorg
AU  - Caspar A. Hallmann
AU  - Vera M. A. Zizka
AU  - Axel Ssymank
AU  - Niklas W. Noll
AU  - Livia Schäffler
AU  - Christoph Scherber
TI  - A universal insect trait tool (ITT, v1.0) for statistical analysis and evaluation of biodiversity research data
AID  - 10.1101/2022.01.25.477751
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.01.25.477751
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/28/2022.01.25.477751.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/28/2022.01.25.477751.full
AB  - We present a unique data set of trait information for 586 insect families in Central Europe, covering the largest known part of described species (over 34,000 species). Life history information and major functional traits were evaluated with fuzzy coding and weighted according to the number of known species in Germany. An overall analysis of the German insect fauna is given and the data set is exemplarily applied to metabarcoding results of malaise trap samples. Due to the high functional and taxonomic diversity in insects, further developments and refinements of traits to be included will be an ongoing process with advancements of upcoming database versions to be subsequently published.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.