Building up the Great Lakes fauna inventory and DNA barcode library

Session: Poster Session

Jon Barge, Student services contractor, US EPA, [email protected]
Anett Trebitz, U.S. EPA, [email protected]
Maicie Sykes, BTS, contractor to U.S. EPA (formerly), [email protected]
Chelsea Hatzenbuhler, ORISE participant, US EPA, [email protected]
Erik Pilgrim, U.S. EPA, [email protected]

Abstract

Having available a comprehensive species inventory and supporting genetic barcode library for Great Lakes fauna is important for endeavors such as examining fauna diversity patterns, estimating likely species in an area, and assigning accurate names to collected specimens. This poster describes our progress towards generating a comprehensive and robust Great Lakes aquatic fauna inventory and towards building out Great Lakes specimens in the BOLD genetic barcode library.  Our BOLD library contributions span a suite of Great-Lakes collected fish, zooplankton, and benthic invertebrate species, thereby making regionally-relevant DNA barcodes available for many species.  Our inventory, developed via an extensive search of literature and internet sources, covers almost 2200 fishes, reptiles and amphibians, zooplankton, and benthic invertebrates, and includes nomenclature information and lake and habitat occurrences, with supporting citations, photographs, and life history links.  Our DNA barcode contributions are publicly available via the BOLD website, and our inventory is being packaged into a public searchable database.  Together, these resources showcase the biodiversity of the Great Lakes aquatic fauna and assist the research and management community in their biological monitoring efforts.