Services: Cole Ecological (CE) offers freshwater macroinvertebrate sample sorting and identification services. These services can be provided on both a stand-alone basis (i.e., samples are delivered to CE by the client, and raw or analyzed data are returned to the client) or as tasks within applied research, assessment, or monitoring projects contracted to CE).

Staff: All identification work is performed by SFS-certified taxonomists, Michael Cole, Ph.D., and Ann Gregoire, M.S., with more than 30 years combined experience in macroinvertebrate identification. Trained, tested, and experienced laboratory technicians perform sample sorting and sub-sampling (informally known as “picking”). Our staff regularly attend taxonomic workshops and maintain regular contact with research taxonomists making advances in the field.

Macroinvertebrate Taxonomy: Identification to any taxonomic level, including Chironomidae and Oligochaeta to genus/species.

Strict Internal Quality Assurance and Quality Control: CE’s macroinvertebrate labs maintain and follow updated quality assurance plans for both sample sorting and taxonomy. Clients can request modifications to these plans and protocols to meet their own project-specific needs.

Data Analysis: CE can provide clients with raw taxonomic and count data or with results and interpretation of an analysis of the data. Our staff are experienced with using numerous approaches for analyzing macroinvertebrate community data, including inferential statistics, multimetric analysis (e.g., the Benthic Index of Biological Integrity and various regional adaptations of this tool), and multivariate predictive models (e.g., RIVPACS). We are skilled in the application and interpretation of many measures of benthic community conditions, including measures of community richness and diversity, functional composition, overall tolerance, and similarity to reference community composition. CE is actively engaged in applied research, thus increasing understanding of how benthic communities and these component metrics respond to disturbance to their environment. If needed, we will select a data analysis that most closely addresses the project or program questions being asked.

Facilities: Cole Ecological, Inc. staff are located in western Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon.  Depending on your location, samples can be picked up, dropped off, or shipped to CE.  Please contact Dr. Cole (413-774-5515, mikebcole@comcast.net) to discuss the most appropriate arrangements before shipping any samples.

Pricing: CE offers services of the highest quality at competitive pricing. Please call or email Dr. Cole for more details and price quotes.