How Improving DNA Barcoding Libraries Can Improve Zooplankton Monitoring in the Great Lakes.

Session: 09. - Modeling, Detecting, and Managing Rarity

Elizabeth Whitmore, Cornell University, [email protected]
James Watkins, Cornell University, [email protected]
Lars Rudstam, Cornell University Bio Field Station, Dept. of Natural Resources, [email protected]

Abstract

Identification of zooplankton species with traditional methods can be difficult and is not possible for some life stages with current taxonomic keys. DNA barcoding involves sequencing cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene of individual taxonomically verified specimens. DNA barcoding data has been accumulating in publically available databases such as BOLD for more than a decade, but zooplankton barcodes are underrepresented in these databases limiting genetic identification of bulk samples. In addition, for many species, barcodes are only available from specimens collected outside the Great Lakes basin. For this effort, samples were collected from the Laurentian Great Lakes in the spring and summer of 2017 and preserved in ethanol. A variety of zooplankton species that are either not in BOLD or have scant barcodes available were identified, photographed, and barcoded.  This improvement of the publically available DNA barcode database will provide information needed for a variety of monitoring methodologies. It will improve the understanding of Great Lakes species diversity and help detect new introductions. For rare species and for recent invaders detecting can be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack, but DNA barcoding could provide researchers with a metal detector to aid in their search.

1. Keyword
genetics

2. Keyword
zooplankton

3. Keyword
biomonitoring