The animal specimens of terrestrial and limnetic ecosystems in the environmental specimen banking programme of Germany.

In the terrestrial and limnetic sampling areas of the Environmental Specimen Banking Programme of Germany five animal species were collected. The goal of this paper is to show first the concept and criteria of the specimen selection for Environmental Specimen Banking with regard to the function of the specimens in the concept of ESB which refers to the role of the species in the trophic levels of the different ecosystems. Secondly, the substantial parts of the sampling operation procedures like the sampling design and the procedure of sampling are shown for five animal specimens.