DNA barcoding for effective biodiversity assessment of a hyperdiverse arthropod group: the ants of Madagascar.

ABSTRACT: The role of DNA barcoding as a tool to accelerate the inventory and analysis of diversity for hyperdiverse arthropods is tested using ants in Madagascar. We demonstrate how DNA barcoding helps address the failure of current inventory methods to rapidly respond to pressing biodiversity needs, specifically in the assessment of richness and turnover across landscapes with hyperdiverse taxa. In a comparison of inventories at four localities in northern Madagascar, patterns of richness were not significantly different when richness was determined using morphological taxonomy (morphospecies) or sequence divergence thresholds (Molecular Operational Taxonomic Unit(s); MOTU). However, sequence-based methods tended to yield greater richness and significantly lower indices of similarity than morpholo

SUBMITTER: Smith MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1609228 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature