DINA is coordinated by Gerlind Lehmann at the NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) and consists of eight partner organisations. In DINA the diversity of insects and environmental parameters will be recorded and documented in 21 representative nature conservation areas spread across Germany throughout the year. A standardized insect monitoring scheme is used using Malaise traps and a Citizen Science approach and insects are identified in a meta barcoding approach. Along the 21 gradients, running from agricultural fields into nature conservation areas, the vegetation and habitat parameters of the surrounding landscape is recorded. Additionally soil, plants and insects as well as tree bark samples are collected for pesticide analysis. A detailed pollen analysis provides information on plant-insect networks at the study sites. Additionally, the civil society is actively involved from the start with stakeholder analysis and feedback events.

Our team is responsible for the pesticide analysis of samples from soil, vegetation and insects collected along a gradient from the arable fields to the core of the conservation area. We use a multi-residue method that allows the quantitation of pesticides at trace levels. A selection of over 100 of the most commonly current used pesticides (CUPs) in German agriculture is included in the analysis. The results of this project part allow a first assessment of realistic pesticide exposure of insects in conservation areas situated in the agricultural landscapes. The data are representative of a nation-wide scale and different conventional cropping systems next to conservation areas from heathlands to xeric grasslands.