INTRODUCTION

Simple & Ambitious!

Advocates Opposition

ID all species

Discover newspecies

Speed up ID’s

Revitalize biological collections

Won’t work

Destroy traditionalsystematics

Service industry

Pseudo taxonomy

New Scientist26 June, 2004

Trends in Ecology& EvolutionFeb. 2003. Vol. 18, Iss. 2

3 of these 5 are the mostdownloaded papers in TREE

1. Taxonomy: renaissance or Tower of Babel? Jim Mallet et al4. A plea for DNA taxonomy Tautz et al5. The encyclopedia of life Edward Wilson

Propositions to vote on:

i) Should we devote resources towards sequencing areference collection of specimens for the development aDNA barcoding system? [Yes, No, or Abstain]

ii) Should DNA sequences play a primary role in thediscovery of new species?

[Yes, No, or Abstain]

Vote before and after the debate!

SPECIMENS

Barcoding Specimens1 2

3

4

5

Specimen 1

1

Class Bivalvia Linnaeus, 1758 -- bivalves   Order Unionoida Stoliczka, 1871      Family Unionidae Fleming, 1828         Genus Epioblasma Rafinesque, 1831            Species Epioblasma torulosa (Rafinesque, 1820)

tubercled blossom

Wabash County, Illinois

EXTINCT

Specimen 22

Class Insecta -- insects   Order Coleoptera -- beetles      Family Scarabaeidae -- scarab beetle         Genus Melolontha             Species Melolontha melolontha (L., 1758)

common cockchafer, May bug

Hungary

Very distinctive, but European

Specimen 3

3

Class Clitellata/Hirudinea Lamarck, 1818 -- leeches   Order Arhynchobdellida Blanchard, 1894      Family Erpobdellidae Blanchard, 1894         Genus Erpobdella de Blainville, 1818            Species Erpobdella punctata (Leidy, 1870)

Leech (no common name)

Illinois

Common & widespread in NANot very distinctive

Specimen 4

New species, no PEET program!

Psocid (no common name)

Arizona

Class Insecta -- insects   Order Psocoptera  -- psocids      Family Myopsocidae         Genus Myopsocus            Species Myopsocus sp. n.

4

Specimen 5

Fly Agaric

Illinois

Class Homobasidiomycetae    Order Agaricales  -- stereotypical mushrooms      Family Amanitaceae         Genus Amanita            Species Amanita muscaria var. formosa

5

e.g. of CONTAMINATION!Vouchering essential, No COI

Conclusions

• Some specimens unsuitable for barcodinge.g. Fossilized/Extinct taxa

• No COI for many taxa• Many taxa difficult/impossible to ID with

e.g. immature specimens, cryptic taxa etcmorphology• No specialists for many taxa• No training necessary for barcoding!• Already in use for many taxa ( bacteria, fungi,

Cetacea)

DEBATEQUESTIONS

A) What is DNA Barcodingi) What are the barcoding regions and what are theirproperties that make them useful?

[Richard Pyle, Bishop Museum, USA – amongst others]

A) What is DNA Barcodingii) Would the DNA barcode represent a *definition* of aspecies?

[David Fitch, New York University, USA – amongst others]

A) What is DNA Barcodingiii) How would DNA barcoding work in practice and whoshould be doing it?

[Vince Smith, Illinois Natural History Survey, USA]

B) DNA barcoding in species identification

i) How will the DNA barcoding identifications deal withthe overlap between intraspecific and interspecificvariation documented in many groups? [Everybody!]

B) DNA barcoding in species identification

ii) To what extent will DNA barcoding support the effortsof traditional taxonomy?

[David Yeates, CSIRO, Australia]

B) DNA barcoding in species identificationiii) Is accuracy of identification (to the right clade)possible in the absence of accuracy in family- and genus-level topology? [Jim Hayden, Cornell University, USA]

C) DNA barcoding in species discoveryi) How confident can we be in the utility of DNA barcodesto discover new species when it has been demonstrated thatmany species are not mitochondrially monophyletic, andthus share mitochondrial polymorphisms with other species?

[Daniel Funk, Vanderbilt University, USA]

C) DNA barcoding in species discoveryii) With a program of DNA barcoding what would besufficient to demonstrate that a specimen represents a newspecies? [Kevin Johnson, Illinois Natural History Survey, USA]

D) Political & practical implicationsi) What will be the role of systematists in a world wheremost identifications are done by "barcode" and will theexpansion of sequencing efforts come at the expense ofsystematics in general [Jim Hayden, Cornell University, USA]

D) Political & practical implicationsii) Assuming the technical problems of DNA barcodingcan be overcome is it now, or will it ever be cost-effectiverelative to traditional methods to use DNA barcodes forbioinventory purposes? [Derek S. Sikes, University of Calgary, Canada]

D) Political & practical implicationsiii) Will identification by barcodes increase people'senthusiasm for living things?

[Jim Hayden, Cornell University, USA]

CLOSINGREMARKS

Propositions to vote on:

i) Should we devote resources towards sequencing areference collection of specimens for the development aDNA barcoding system? [Yes, No, or Abstain]

ii) Should DNA sequences play a primary role in thediscovery of new species?

[Yes, No, or Abstain]

Lessons for the all species project, from thehuman genome project…

Kevin Kelly

• The Human Genome Project featured a goal that probably would havehappened anyway over time… It took ordinary work and raised it tothe level of legend and myth by attempting to complete it "all" in arelatively short time. The Genome project then is primarilydistinguished by its emphasis on "all."

Lessons for the all species project, from thehuman genome project…

Kevin Kelly

• A reoccurring theme in the mission statement of the All SpeciesInventory is the need for radically different and new tools. All Speciesmust be open to the possibility of succeeding using enhanced existingtools applied in new ways, or simply old tools automated to lighteningspeed. However because current taxonomic procedures are so low tech,almost any improvement may resemble radical technology.

Lessons for the all species project, from thehuman genome project…

Kevin Kelly

• All Species has an even better chance to become a projectthe public cares about. Far more people can identify aknown species than can identify a known DNA sequence…This is a project that can relate to everyone: All species forall people.

• Someday all the species living on earth will be identified,although surely not all the ones alive today. Why not now?

Acknowledgements:

The Panel: Paul Hebert & Kip Will

The Students: Martin Hauser, Daniela Takiya, MathysMeyer, Floyd Shockley, & Jamie Zahniser

Specimen providers: Kevin Cummings, Martin Hauser,Andrew Miller, Mark Wetzle, & Kazunori Yoshizawa

Conference organisers: Especially Mike Irwin & GailKampmeier

Funding: National Science Foundation