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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2011

  • Title: Terrestrial Insect DNA barcode prototype for The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
  • Primary Author: Cara Gibson (NEON, Inc)
  • Additional Authors: Kali Blevins (NEON, Inc.); Rebecca Kao (NEON, Inc); Patrick Travers (NEON, Inc)
  • Abstract:

    NEON is a continental-scale research platform for analyzing and understanding the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on ecology. NEON’s terrestrial insect measurements will be focused on biodiversity, invasion biology, phenology and infectious disease (www.neoninc.org/science/overview). The selected focal terrestrial insects, ground beetles and mosquitoes, cannot be rapidly and easily identified to species by seasonal field crews; as a result, DNA barcoding was recommended to NEON at a NSF-sponsored voucher collections meeting. DNA barcoding is a taxonomic method that uses a short genetic marker for species verifications. NEON will use mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 which has been selected as a global standard by The Consortium for the Barcode of Life as a primary marker. The NEON DNA barcode prototype effort is evaluating barcoding methods, establishing site-specific DNA barcode libraries and developing efficient workflows. Toward these ends, an eight week field campaign using pitfall traps, CO2 light traps, gravid traps and BG sentinel traps was conducted from mid June through late July 2010 at seven plots within Harvard Forest. Of the fourteen mosquito species (n=8,931 individuals) collected, one new Barcode of Life Datasystem (BOLD) species record was created. Of the twenty-seven ground beetles species collected (n=250 individuals), 18 new BOLD species records were created. NEON’s terrestrial insect sampling design includes considerations of metadata collection and standardization, taxonomic reconciliation groups, voucher archiving, and data quality control and assurance to capture long-term spatial and temporal trends in ground beetle and mosquito populations. NEON is currently in the prototype and development stage, with plans to begin full operations in 2016. Quality-assured raw and summary data will be fully annotated and openly available during operations.

  • Research Category: Biodiversity Studies
    Ecological Informatics and Modelling
    Invasive Plants, Pests & Pathogens
    Large Experiments and Permanent Plot Studies
    Physiological Ecology, Population Dynamics, and Species Interactions