Case Study
Submitted By
| Name: | Darren Crayn |
| Institution: | National Herbarium of New South Wales, Botanic Gardens Trust |
| Country: | Australia |
| Email: | darren.crayn@environment.nsw.gov.au |
Title & Categories
| Case Study Title: | Barcoding a species rich, historically important and geographically constrained flora from Australia |
| Focus Theme: | Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Species conservation, Disease vectors, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Species conservation, Resolving discrete taxonomic problems, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Biotic inventory of a poorly known taxonomic group, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Biotic inventory of a poorly known taxonomic group, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Associating life stages/genders, Biotic inventory of a poorly known taxonomic group, Biotic inventory of multiple taxa in a region or habitat, Experimental application of barcodes to a new taxonomic group, Resolving discrete taxonomic problems, Systematic revision of an entire taxon, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Biotic inventory of a poorly known taxonomic group, Species conservation, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Resolving discrete taxonomic problems, Species conservation, Adding barcodes to a large survey of a taxonomic group, Biotic inventory of a poorly known taxonomic group, Experimental application of barcodes to a new taxonomic group, Resolving discrete taxonomic problems |
| Geographic Region: | Central America, North America, Atlantic Ocean, Central Asia, Southern Asia, Europe, Mediterranean Sea, East Asia, Africa, South America, East Asia, South East Asian Peninsula, Australia, Caribbean Ocean, Central America, South America |
| Habitat Type: | Freshwater - Other, Freshwater lakes, Terrestrial montane, Terrestrial polar ice/tundra, Terrestrial temperate forest, Terrestrial tropical forest, Freshwater marshland, Freshwater rivers, Terrestrial cultivated land, Coastal wetlands, Estuarine, Terrestrial desert, Terrestrial grasslands, Terrestrial - Other, Terrestrial temperate forest, Terrestrial montane, Terrestrial grasslands, Marine continental shelf benthos, Intertidal, Marine nearshore benthos, Terrestrial - Other, Terrestrial tropical forest, Freshwater streams, Terrestrial - Other, Terrestrial temperate forest, Terrestrial grasslands, Terrestrial - Other, Freshwater marshland, Coastal wetlands, Terrestrial montane, Terrestrial tropical forest |
| Taxonomic Group: | c: Magnoliophyta, c: Lycopodiophyta, c: Equisetophyta, c: Coniferophyta, c: Pteridophyta, f: Aves, c: Phaeophyta, c: Rhodophyta, c: PLANTS, f: Aves, c: PLANTS, f: VERTEBRATES, f: Osteichthyes, c: Pteridophyta, c: PLANTS, c: Magnoliophyta, c: Cycadophyta, c: Magnoliophyta, c: PLANTS |
Scope
This project aims to generate barcode data of seven loci from all of the vascular plant species of the Kurnell Peninsula, located within metropolitan Sydney, Australia. This flora consists of c. 340 native vascular species (193 genera, 81 families) and c. 90 introduced vascular species (79 genera, 29 families). The seven loci being studied (trnH-psbA spacer, matK, ycf5, accD, rpoB, rpoC1 and ndhJ) are those under consideration by the Plant Working Group of CBOL for the standard plant barcode. Specimens are wild-collected and vouchered, and for many species herbarium specimens from the same locality will be sampled to assess the utility of herbarium collections for building a comprehensive barcode database of Australian plants. Over 150 species have been wild collected so far, requiring four person-days of field effort (not including voucher and sample processing). Obtaining the remaining species will be less efficient, most of the easy taxa have been obtained.
Purpose
Plant DNA barcoding efforts lag those for other groups. To date only one published study has barcoded a geographically constrained flora (Kress et al. 2005 PNAS 102: 8369-8374), although several other projects are now underway. There is a need to test the applicability of this technology and the generality of its methods in regional contexts, and for Australia, to barcode the local flora for local purposes such as forensics, land management, research etc.
Background
I have chosen a rich, diverse and well-known local flora to undertake this pilot study, the only plant barcoding study to date in Australia. The flora of Kurnell’s c. 450 hectares of coastal dune scrub, heath, wetland, rainforest and sclerophyll woodland is rich and diverse, well-known, of manageable size for barcoding, and well represented in herbaria. Also, Kurnell’s was the first Australian flora studied scientifically by Europeans (in 1770), namely Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, botanists on Captain James Cook’s first voyage.
Logistics
This work is being done at the National Herbarium of New South Wales (NSW), part of the Botanic Gardens Trust (www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au) by Dr Darren Crayn. Currently funding is very limited and does not extend to technical assistance thus work is proceeding slowly.
The lab at the NSW Herbarium is well set up for plant DNA barcoding, having existing facilities for molecular systematics and population genetics research. All procedures are done in-house except fluorescence sequencing, which is outsourced. Acquiring additional DNA storage facilities and thermocyclers will be necessary as barcoding work continues.