Your specimen collection, organized.
Your field work, streamlined.

One platform for both sides of your science. In the lab: organize, label, identify, and analyze collections into citable, publication-ready results. In the field: capture your survey on a tablet and let TaxaTrack handle the counts and assessment before you leave the site. Clean records and reproducible workflows—starting with aquatic insects, growing across taxa and methods.

No credit card required. Students are always free while enrolled in a course.

Get started — free For Universities

A tour of TaxaTrack

Welcome

TaxaTrack

From the field to publication — organize a specimen collection, print its labels, and run the bioassessment analysis, all in one place.

Collect› Identify› Label› Analyze› Map› Publish

Welcome — here's the two-minute version.

TaxaTrack works three ways, for three kinds of people. Click Continue and pick the one that fits you — you can switch or start over anytime.

Which one is you?

One account can be all three at once. Pick a path to explore — the ⇄ Switch role button up top brings you right back here.

My Collections · Soda Butte Survey

812specimens

41taxa

6sites

3projects

Aquatic orders (Merritt, Cummins & Berg): EphemeropteraOdonata PlecopteraHemiptera MegalopteraNeuroptera TrichopteraLepidoptera ColeopteraDiptera Hymenoptera

Order	Family	Genus	Species	Qty	Location
Ephemeroptera	Baetidae	Baetis	tricaudatus	3	Soda Butte Ck
Plecoptera	Perlidae	Perlesta	decipiens	1	Soda Butte Ck
Trichoptera	Hydropsychidae	Hydropsyche	betteni	2	Lamar River
Odonata	Aeshnidae	Aeshna	palmata	1	Lamar River
Coleoptera	Elmidae	Optioservus	divergens	5	Slough Ck
Diptera	Chironomidae	Cricotopus	tremulus	8	Slough Ck

Your whole collection, finally organized.

Every record lives in a project, tied to its sampling location with GPS, dates, and site photos. Sort, filter, and choose which columns to show — then reuse it all downstream for labels and analysis.

New specimen

Order

Ephemeroptera ✓

Family

Baetidae ✓

Genus

Bae

Identify without spelling mistakes.

Type a few letters and pick from a real taxonomic list — each rank unlocks the next, so Family only opens once you've chosen a valid Order. Names you've used are cached for instant recall, and reclassified names stay findable as synonyms.

Import CSV · column mapping

spring_creek.csv · 145 KB Auto-detected columns previewing 3 of 782 rows

Your column	→ Maps to	Status
order	Order	✓ matched
fam	Family	✓ matched
Location Code	Sample location	✓ matched
collected	Date	normalized

Imported 782 rows · 12 warnings · 0 errors · duplicates flagged for your review

Bring your spreadsheets — mapped and checked.

TaxaTrack auto-detects your columns; you confirm the mapping. It normalizes dates, flags possible duplicates for you to decide, and returns any bad rows as an error file — nothing is ever silently dropped.

Print labels · 2-dram shell vials · 13 × 40 mm

Baetis tricaudatus (Baetidae)

Ephemeroptera · Qty 3 · 2025-06-14

Det. A. Researcher · #A-014

Locality

Soda Butte Creek · Cooke City, MT

45.0219, −109.9350

Coll. J. Field · #A-014

ID + Locality pair Wraps, never truncates Ready: 24 labels

Print-ready vial labels.

The standard two-label convention — identification + locality — sized for shell vials. Long waterbody names wrap to fit instead of getting cut off, so every vial prints clean.

Analysis · Soda Butte Survey

4.1HBI

14EPT richness

2.1Shannon

0.86Simpson

Community composition by order (per site)

Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera Diptera Coleoptera Odonata

Regional & multimetric indices — each cited

4.1HBI · Very goodHilsenhoff 1987/88

4.3NCBI · GoodLenat 1993 (SE)

7.2NY BAP · SlightBode / NYSDEC

78PNW B-IBI · GoodKarr / PSSB

+ Pielou · Margalef · %tolerant / intolerant · FFG proportions · %clingers · %dominant · PMA

every value traceable to a published source — 25+ metrics, all cited

A full, cited bioassessment — not a black box.

Composition, diversity, tolerance, functional feeding groups, and habit — plus named regional & multimetric indices (HBI, NCBI, NY BAP, PNW B-IBI) — computed from your data, every value traceable to a published source. Pro feature

Built-in reference library · tolerance & trait sources

2,505EPA App B taxa

415Hilsenhoff taxa

77FBI families

Source	Provides	Level
Hilsenhoff 1987 · Great Lakes Entomol.	Biotic-index tolerance values	genus / species
U.S. EPA Rapid Bioassessment (App. B)	Tolerance values	genus / species
Family Biotic Index (Hilsenhoff 1988)	Family-level tolerances	family
USGS · Vieira et al. 2006	Lotic invertebrate traits & FFG	genus
Merritt, Cummins & Berg	Determination / taxonomy reference	keys

＋ Need a specific index, a regional dataset, or a source from your own lab? References can be added on request — the library is built to grow.

Real, published data — not a black box.

Every metric is backed by a built-in library of peer-reviewed and agency reference datasets, loaded and versioned in the app — with the exact source behind every number. And it's not fixed: tell us the index or dataset your work relies on and we'll add it.

How a tolerance value is resolved

Baetis tricaudatus (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae)

→ resolved to

HBI tolerance 5 genus Baetis region: General Hilsenhoff 1987

Finest rank first — use the genus value; fall back to family only if needed.
Walk up, never average down — an unknown genus borrows its family's value; families are never averaged into a fake genus number.
Region-aware — a region-specific value wins over the General one.
Cited per value — the exact source travels with every number into the report.

Traceable all the way to the row.

For each taxon the engine picks the most specific value available, walks up a rank only when it must (never averaging), prefers your region, and records the citation. That transparency is what makes the assessment defensible in review. Pro feature

Site map · per-site HBI

Excellent Good Fair markers keyed to computed HBI — greener = cleaner

Maps you can put in the paper.

Each site's marker is colored by its computed water-quality band — not raw counts — so a reviewer sees the gradient at a glance. Export it print-ready. Pro feature

Report · print-ready

Soda Butte Creek — Bioassessment Report

Generated 2026-06-20 · 6 sites · 812 specimens

Methods. Family-level Hilsenhoff Biotic Index (HBI) computed over covered individuals; EPT richness and Shannon diversity reported per site. Tolerance values assigned at genus where available, otherwise family. Determinations follow Merritt, Cummins & Berg.

Site	HBI	Band	EPT	Shannon
Soda Butte A	3.1	Excellent	16	2.4
Lamar B	4.6	Good	13	2.1
Slough C	6.0	Fair	9	1.7

References

Hilsenhoff, W.L. 1987. An improved biotic index of organic stream pollution. Great Lakes Entomol. 20:31–39.
Merritt, R.W., Cummins, K.W. & Berg, M.B. (eds.). An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America.

A report you can cite.

One click turns the analysis into a print-ready document — methods, per-site metrics, and a references section built only from the sources actually used. Print to PDF and attach it to the manuscript. Pro feature

Aquatic Entomology · Fall 2026

Share one join code RIFFLE-26 students self-enroll — no roster upload

28students

812specimens

41taxa

Collection mode

Individualeach student keeps their own collection

Teamstudents share a group collection; each member's contribution is tracked for grading

Aquatic insects Scoring rubric Co-branded with your university

Set up a class in minutes.

Name the course, choose what students collect, and set your scoring rubric. Run it as individual collections or as teams sharing a group collection — and you can still grade each student individually either way, since every specimen records who contributed it. Share one join code and students self-enroll.

Roster · contribution over the term

Student	Specimens	Grade
A. Rivera	41	A
M. Chen	33	B+
T. Okafor	27	B
L. Nowak	9	C

See who's collecting all term — not just the night before.

A live roster with each student's pace and share of the class total. Because every specimen records who contributed it, a team collection still yields a fair individual grade — not one shared mark. The cumulative timeline also reveals last-minute "end-loading," the pattern this tool was built to surface.

Cumulative contributions · Fall term

Class total Steady collector Last-minute (end-loading)

The chart this whole tool was built for.

Cumulative contributions across the term make effort visible. A student who steadily collects traces a smooth climb; one who crams the night before shows up as a late vertical jump — the "end-loading" this project set out to catch.

Grade · A. Rivera · ID review

Score 57 · B+ was 62 · A 1 incorrect ID · −5 pts recomputes live as you check boxes

Sample	Determination	Mark incorrect
#A-014	Baetis tricaudatus	☐
#A-021	Perlesta decipiens	☐
#A-033	~~Hydropsyche betteni~~	☑ −5
#A-040	Optioservus divergens	☐

Grade by checking off the misidentifications.

The rubric scores taxonomic breadth automatically. Every specimen is assumed correct — tick the box on any you find misidentified, and the penalty applies instantly, with the score and letter grade recomputing live.

Grades · export for your LMS

grades-aquatic-ento.csv Canvas · Blackboard · Moodle ready

Student	Score	Letter	Incorrect IDs
A. Rivera	62	A	2
M. Chen	54	B+	1
T. Okafor	48	B	3
L. Nowak	21	C	0

Export grades in one click.

A single CSV with every student's score, letter grade, and flagged identifications — drop it straight into your gradebook. No re-typing, no copy-paste.

Join a course

Enter the join code from your instructor

RIFFLE-26 Join →

Your own collection, created for you Free while enrolled

One code, and you're in.

No setup, no payment. Enter the code your professor gives you and TaxaTrack creates your course collection automatically.

Add a specimen

Order

Trichoptera ✓

Family

Hydro

Collect with the same guided ID.

Students use the exact pick-from-a-list identifier researchers do — so the data is clean from day one, and there's nothing to misspell.

My Course Collection · Aquatic Entomology

27specimens

9genera

62score

Order	Family	Genus	Qty	Date
Ephemeroptera	Baetidae	Baetis	3	2026-09-14
Trichoptera	Hydropsychidae	Hydropsyche	2	2026-09-21
Coleoptera	Elmidae	Optioservus	4	2026-10-02

Your collection, all in one place.

Everything you've added for the course, with your running score always in view — the same number your professor grades against. No surprises at the end of the term.

My Course Collection

Running score 62

breadth beats duplicates

7 orders12 families 9 genera1 duplicate · +0.5

Watch your score grow as you diversify.

A new order is worth more than a repeat genus, so the score rewards range — the same number your professor grades against. No surprises at the end.

Print labels for submission

Hydropsyche betteni (Hydropsychidae)

Trichoptera · Qty 2 · 2026-09-21

Det. L. Nowak · #12

Locality

Riffle Creek · Bozeman, MT

45.6770, −111.0429

Coll. L. Nowak · #12

Standard two-label pair the same convention professionals use

Turn it in, properly labeled.

When it's time to submit your physical collection, print the standardized vial labels right from your records — no handwriting, no guesswork about the format.

That's TaxaTrack.

Explore another path, or jump in — students are always free, and there's a free trial for everyone else.

Get started — free For universities

No credit card required · students always free while enrolled

Welcome

One platform — in the lab and in the field

Lab & Field

Roles each chapter serves: Pro / Researcher Instructor Student

Lab Collections that come back to the lab — organize, label, identify, and analyze.

Available now

Aquatic Entomology

Collembola · Ephemeroptera · Odonata · Orthoptera · Plecoptera · Hemiptera · Megaloptera · Neuroptera · Trichoptera · Lepidoptera · Coleoptera · Hymenoptera · Diptera

Orders per Merritt, Cummins & Berg, 5th ed. (2019).

Freshwater macroinvertebrates—the full field-to-publication workflow, from EPT to diversity.

Available now

Terrestrial Entomology

Coleoptera · Lepidoptera · Hymenoptera

The same organize · label · analyze flow, tuned for terrestrial insect collections.

Available now

Forensic Entomology

Calliphoridae · Sarcophagidae · Silphidae · Dermestidae

Carrion & decomposition insects — the same organize · label · analyze flow, for succession and medicolegal work.

Field Done in the field — TaxaTrack runs all the post-field calculation & assessment for you. No Excel on the drive home.

Coming soon

Rapid Bioassessment (RBP)

Habitat assessment · benthic metrics

Score stream habitat and log benthic samples streamside—TaxaTrack runs the full EPA RBP bioassessment (EPT · HBI · tolerance · FFG). No Excel on the drive home.

Coming soon

Fish

Salmonidae · Cyprinidae · Catostomidae

Stream & lake surveys—catch, measure length & weight, log the site, and release.

On the roadmap

Small mammals

Rodentia · Soricomorpha · Lagomorpha

Live-trapping and mark-recapture—morphometrics, tags, and release along transects.

On the roadmap

Herps & reptiles

Anura · Caudata · Squamata

Amphibian & reptile field surveys—captures, measurements, and safe release.

On the horizon

Mark–recapture

Lincoln–Petersen · Schnabel

Estimate population size from marked and recaptured individuals—computed on the spot.

On the horizon

Removal & depletion

Zippin · catch-per-effort

Population estimates from successive removal passes—built for fish and stream surveys.

On the horizon

Survival & abundance

Jolly–Seber · encounter histories

Track open populations across seasons—or export clean encounter histories to Program MARK and R.

LabSpecimens (example) Demo Aquatic Collection

Order	Family	Genus	Species	Qty	Date	Waterbody • City, State	Lat	Long
Ephemeroptera	Baetidae	Baetis	tricaudatus	3	2025-06-14	Spring Creek • Fort Collins, CO	40.5853	−105.0844
Plecoptera	Perlidae	Perlesta	decipiens	1	2025-05-28	Cache la Poudre • Bellvue, CO	40.6990	−105.5100
Trichoptera	Hydropsychidae	Hydropsyche	betteni	2	2025-06-01	Big Thompson • Estes Park, CO	40.4066	−105.5217

Identification label

Baetis tricaudatus (Baetidae)

Ephemeroptera • Qty: 3 • 2025‑06‑14

Det. by A. Researcher • Sample #A‑014 • Preservative: EtOH

Locality label

Spring Creek • Fort Collins, CO

40.5853, −105.0844

Collected by J. Field

Sample #A‑014

Two‑label convention: identification + locality (shown here for the aquatic‑insect chapter).

LabCSV import → clean mapping

Preview, then commit

Order Family Genus Species + GPS · date · qty

Auto-detected columns Previewing 3 of 782 rows

Ephemeroptera, Baetidae, Baetis, tricaudatus ok

Plecoptera, Perlidae, Perlesta, decipiens ok

Trichoptera, Hydropsychidae, Hydropsyche, betteni date normalized

Imported 782 rows • 12 warnings • 0 errors

LabVial label preview

2-dram shell vials • 13 × 40 mm

Two‑label convention: Identification + Locality

Baetis tricaudatus (Baetidae)

Ephemeroptera • Qty: 3 • 2025‑06‑14

Det. by A. Researcher • Sample #A‑014

Locality

Spring Creek • Fort Collins, CO

40.5853, −105.0844

Collected by J. Field • Sample #A‑014

Ready: 24 labels

ID + Locality Fits 2-dram vials Wraps, never truncates

Start free trial

CSV → clean records

From messy spreadsheets to standardized specimen data in minutes.

Print‑ready vial labels

Identification + locality labels sized for shell vials — text wraps, never truncates.

Project‑based curation

Organize by project and locality, with GPS, site photos, and context preserved.

Bioassessment analysis

HBI, EPT & diversity metrics with cited sources — plus citable exports and publication site maps.

On the horizon

Population analysis

Mark-recapture, depletion & abundance estimates from field surveys — done on the spot.

Built for researchers, labs, and educators

Purpose-built workflows for field and classroom

Researchers

HBI 4.3 · Good

Demo Aquatic Collection

EPT richness by site

Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera

Water-quality band

4.3

Excellent Very poor

From raw counts to a cited assessment

HBI, EPT, richness, and diversity — each value carries the source, region, and rank it came from.

Field workflows — surveys, mark-recapture, on-site population estimates — are on the roadmap.

Labs

★ Pro · Analysis

Demo Aquatic Collection

A shared collection, from specimens to a cited assessment

Organize › Vial labels › HBI / EPT › Diversity › Site maps

Publication site map — sites keyed by computed band

Excellent Good Fair Fairly poor

Pollution tolerance (HBI): abundance-weighted, over covered individuals
EPT richness & %EPT: the clean-water signal
Diversity: taxa richness, Shannon, %dominant
Every value cited: the published source, region, and rank it came from
Citable outputs: CSV data export + a print-ready report
Publication site maps: per-site metrics from your GPS

Analysis is the paid Pro tier — the research work a lab counts on, kept transparent and citable.

Cited sources CSV + report

Field capture with automatic post-field assessment is on the roadmap.

Educators

Teams: On Term: Fall 2025 Course: Aquatic Entomology

Teams 8 Students 24 Specimens 742 IDs verified 541 Labels 410 Last week +18%

Teams Individuals Score rewards taxonomic diversity — new taxa are worth more than repeats • Contribution % = share of team output

Team / Student	Specimens	IDs verified	Distinct taxa	Score	Contribution %	Last activity
Team Sparrow Alice, Ben, Cara	86	62	48	106.6	100%	Today 10:14
Alice	34	22	18	44.8	37%	Today
Ben	28	21	16	40.4	33%	Yesterday
Cara	24	19	14	36.0	30%	2 days ago
Team Mayfly Dana, Lee	64	48	36	79.2	100%	Today 09:22
Dana	36	26	18	48.2	56%	Today
Lee	28	22	18	41.0	44%	Yesterday
Team Caddis Rio, Sam, Terry	58	40	32	69.2	100%	Today 08:01
Rio	22	15	12	30.8	38%	Today
Sam	20	14	10	27.6	34%	Yesterday
Terry	16	11	10	20.8	28%	3 days ago

Contribution % is each student’s share of their team’s diversity-weighted total. Past-6-weeks sparkbars show weekly collecting activity.

Start free trial

Researchers & individuals

Free to start

Free trial · 30 days with limits lifted — organize, import, and label a real collection (Analysis is a Pro feature)
Pro — $79/mo or $790/yr · unlimited projects & specimens, the full bioassessment Analysis pillar (HBI, EPT, diversity), citable CSV + report exports, and publication site maps
Teams & labs · shared seats for a research group — talk to us

Get started — free Learn more

Students are always free while enrolled in a class; researchers and consultants choose Pro when they’re ready.

Field capture & on-site analysis are rolling out — on the roadmap.

Universities & institutions

Students free in class

$999 per class / term · up to 50 students — the university pays, students join free. Instructors get the full teaching toolkit: rosters, groups, in-semester provenance tracking, auto-graded diversity scoring, and vial labels.

Department license — from $3,000/yr · unlimited courses across a department (best value at 3+ classes).

Request a quote How it works

No individual checkout for students when a course is licensed.

FAQ

Is TaxaTrack for lab or field work?
Both. The Lab side handles collections that come back for identification and analysis; the Field side handles surveys done on-site, where TaxaTrack does the counts and assessment for you. Aquatic-insect lab bioassessment is live today; field workflows are rolling out.

Do students pay?
Students in licensed courses are covered by the university.

Is there a free tier?
Yes—you can start free. Students are always free while enrolled in a licensed course; researchers and instructors choose a plan when they’re ready.

Can I switch plans?
Yes—upgrade or downgrade anytime.

Can I export my data?
Yes—your data is yours and can be exported at any time.

In memory of Professor Kenneth W. Cummins

1933–2023

Mentor, fishing companion, and dear friend.

An internationally known freshwater ecologist. His macroinvertebrate Functional Feeding Groups and the River Continuum Concept reshaped how the world reads a river. He fished the waters of Yellowstone above Cooke City with his boys, and to the very end he asked us to keep at the work.

“Please don’t quit collecting aquatic insects from across the nation,
Don’t squash ’em and code ’em and go on vacation!” — Ken Cummins, from the last poem he wrote, 2022

Read Rich Merritt’s remembrance →

For Ken

Your specimen collection, organized.Your field work, streamlined.

One platform — in the lab and in the field

Aquatic Entomology

Terrestrial Entomology

Forensic Entomology

Rapid Bioassessment (RBP)

Fish

Small mammals

Herps & reptiles

Mark–recapture

Removal & depletion

Survival & abundance

LabCSV import → clean mapping

LabVial label preview

Built for researchers, labs, and educators

Researchers

Labs

Educators

Researchers & individuals

Universities & institutions

FAQ

Your specimen collection, organized.
Your field work, streamlined.