Author: torbjoe

The sixth international conference on DNA Barcoding just recently ended with wise words from Thomas Lovejoy, Dan Janzen and Paul Hebert: The species on our globe are going extinct faster than ever before and we have an urgent need to retrieve more knowledge of our biodiversity before it is gone for good.

The conference in Guelph, Canada was impressive in all sorts of ways and the scientific depth truly underlined the theme “Barcodes to biomes”. With more than 30 excellent invited speakers and 600 delegates from 60 countries, the meeting became an unparalleled academic success. Abstracts from all talks and posters have been peer-reviewed and published in the journal Genome.

All oral presentations were held in the Rozanski Hall at the University of Guelph. Photo Torbjørn Ekrem (CC-BY).

In addition to the academically strong profile, the organizers clearly had valued good social settings in the planning of the conference. Moreover, a few other special arrangements made this a memorable event: The group photo (or rather film) was shot with a drone, the conference had its own beer (that had been barcoded of course) and the talks of all invited speakers was streamed live on YouTube. Most impressive, however, was perhaps that the results from a bioblitz held in a nearby reserve the day before the conference were ready by the end of the meeting! The specimens have been barcoded and the results assembled in a paper with 120 authors already submitted to the Biodiversity Data Journal. If you think I am the only one that is impressed by the 6th International Barcode of Life Conference, check out tweets with the hashtag #dnabarcodes2015.

The meeting decided to establish the International Society for the Barcode of Life (ISBOL) and an interrim board will be established to work out the guidelines and tasks for the society. Two important areas will be the development of new standards for DNA barcoding as technology advances and support the organization of international conferences.

It will be difficult to exceed this year’s conference in scientific breadth and organization. Perhaps this was one the reasons why Prof. Michelle van der Bank from the University of Johannesburg suggested the Krüger National Park as venue for the next conference in 2017. A setting in one of the world’s most famous protected wildlife areas certainly should attract many participants!

The University of Guelph gryphon bids #mydnabarcode farewell. Photo Torbjørn Ekrem (CC-BY).

32 lichenologists from 12 European countries met in Steinkjer during the week 3-7 August 2015 for a field excursion and symposium. NorBOL was present and used the opportunity to sample tissue from almost 150 specimens for DNA barcoding, many of them from species of which participants had special competence. The meeting was arranged by the Nordic Lichen Society and was partly funded by the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre and NorBOL.

– Einar Timdal, Natural History Museum, UiO.

Participants are sturying lichens at the old Mokk copper mine. Photo Mika Bendiksby (CC-BY).

Jukka Pykälä and Mika Bendiksby sample lichens for DNA barcoding. Photo Einar Timdal (CC-BY).

Is environmental DNA barcoding of water and benthos samples more effective than traditinonal methods in biological monitoring of freshwater ecosystems? This is one of the questions researchers at the NTNU University Museum, BIO, NINA, NIVA and ZFMK wish to answer in the project “Environmental barcoding av aquatic invertebrates (EBAI)”.

A team from the project recently visited Rondane National Park where both water and benthic invertebrates were collected from the River Døråla. The invertebrates were fixed on ethanol while water was filtered through different filter types.

Terje Bongard (NINA) and Karstein Hårsaker (NTNU University Museum) performing kick sampling at Vollen. Photo: Torbjørn Ekrem (CC-BY).

Post doctor Markus Majaneva and PI Torbjørn Ekrem at the NTNU University Museum reports on a very successful fieldwork where not even strong winds and rain could stop filtering of the water samples in the mobile laboratory (in the back of a car). The first results from the experiments are expected towards the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016.

Filtering water. Photo Torbjørn Ekrem (CC-BY).

The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Environment Agency.

Gunnhild Marthinsen (Natural History Museum Oslo) and Aina Mærk Aspaas (NTNU University Museum) visited Station Linné on Öland in June/July 2015 to sample insects from the Swedish Malaise Trap Project. As part of the collaboration  between NorBOL and the Swedish Barcode of Life Initiative (SweBOL), the two barcode managers wanted to sample Nordic insect species that had not already been barcoded from Norway.

Aina Mærk Aspaas samples insect legs on Station Linné. Photo: Gunnhild Marthinsen.

By the end of a short week, Aina and Gunnhild had sampled and photographed nearly 600 insects. The samples will be shipped to the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario for DNA analyses in August and results are expected later this autumn.

Gunnhild Marthinsen photographs hymenoptera on Station Linné. Photo: Aina Mærk Aspaas.

Thanks to Pelle Magnusson and Dave Karlsson for all help at the station!

Tromsø Univeristy Museum has activities for children every Sunday. On Sunday May 10 this activity was on DNA barcoding and bird-strikes! Even though the weather was good outside, many children visited the museum to play detectives.

The background story is that a bird has struck an air-plane, but all that is left is this feather. Which bird species could it be? With a barcode string of letters from the feather, the children had to search the exhibition for a bird with matching DNA barcode. When found, they could build a barcode of “jelly-men”, each letter corresponding to a certain colour. Exactly 8 of them fit on the stick and made a great treat.

Marie Kristine Føreid, Tromsø museum