Case Studies in DNA Barcoding

The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) invites researchers to submit brief abstracts of “case studies” of DNA barcoding. Please refer to the instructions for information on how to prepare your case study. Case studies can be submitted for proposed projects or projects that are underway. If you would like to initiate a barcoding project but you are missing a key ingredient (e.g., access to lab facilities, samples, expert identifications), submitting a Case Study can help you locate these resources.

In submitting this case study, you are authorizing CBOL to post a summary of your project on the CBOL website and to send the full case study text to people who ask for a copy. For this reason, do not include any information that you wish to keep out of the public domain.

Case Studies can be devoted to:

  • Collecting barcode data from new taxonomic groups and/or geographic areas,
  • Building libraries of barcode data for groups from which some barcode data has already been obtained, and/or
  • Applying barcode data to applied problems (e.g., agriculture, public health, conservation).

These one-page documents will:

  • Help submitters and researchers interested in participating in barcode projects to find each other;
  • Provide CBOL with an assessment of the current and projected needs among barcode researchers;
  • Help CBOL in its efforts to identify sources of support for specific barcoding projects and for the barcode initiative in general, and
  • Give policy-makers and funding agencies a clearer picture of the potential impact of DNA barcoding.

Case studies can be submitted by:

  • Systematists and molecular biologists who are gathering or intend to gather barcode data as part of their taxonomic research;
  • Ecologists, ecosystem scientists, researchers doing biodiversity inventories, oceanographers, and other non-systematists who need access to species identifications based on DNA barcodes for their research; and
  • Applied scientists, government agencies, conservation organizations and non-researchers who want to use DNA barcodes gathered by others to address practical problems.

Questions concerning CBOL Case Studies can be directed to cbolinfo@si.edu.
Technical questions about this website can be directed here.