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DNA barcoding as a tool for Great Lakes biological assessment
Citation:
Trebitz, A. DNA barcoding as a tool for Great Lakes biological assessment. UMD Biology Departmental Seminar, Duluth, MN, January 23, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
not applicable
Description:
Enumerating organisms found in water samples in support of biodiversity and biological condition assessment is a mainstay of aquatic ecology, yet can require considerable resources and expertise. DNA-based identification of mixed-organism samples offers the potential to greatly reduced the need for morphological taxonomy. This seminar will focus on the DNA barcoding approach as a tool for biological condition and invasive species assessment in the Great Lakes. As recent work by our team shows, DNA-barcoding is already viable for morphologically challenging fish life stages (e.g., larvae); however the reference libraries on which DNA-barcoding depends remain poorly developed for many zooplankton and benthic invertebrate taxa.