Building a DNA Barcode library of Alaska's nonmarine arthropods

Derek Sikes & Casey BickfordUniversity of Alaska Museum Fairbanks, AK

Entomological Collections NetworkAustin, TX 2013-11-09

© Henri Goulet

Map of all georeferenced spider records in Arctos 2012-11-14

Mission

To create a resource that makes publicly available as much information as possible concerning the non-marine arthropods of Alaska.

Using specimens + literature + ‘grey’ literature

Which species occur in Alaska?

Where do these species occur?

What do they do? / Are they changing?

Mission

Which species occur in Alaska?

~8,000 nonmarine arthropod species

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

- hope to use DNA Barcode methods for monitoring

- must first build a DNA Barcode library for Alaska’s arthropod species

Cumulative AK Species Added to Database

8191

2596

all records

UAM specimen based records

Methods

Plan:Contribute to iBoL, DNA Barcodes of

2-3 specimens per authoritatively identified species< 10yrs old

~2000 species, ~6,250 specimens

~30% of the state fauna – all nonmarine arthropod taxa

Methods

Compared two labs

Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB)$12/specimen

Smithsonian Institute (SI)$9/specimen

Two 95 well plates with tissues from same 95 specimens

Methods

Compared two labs

Both agreed that the lab not chosen would forfeit payment for the test plate

If Smithsonian was chosen they would provide sequences/chromatograms and we would upload (= more work for us).

Methods

Compared two labs

CCDB had higher success rate (95% vs 80%)

SI lab had a contamination issue

CCDB more efficient

95 * $12 = $1,140 / plate

Smithsonian test plate

CCDB test plate

95 Specimens removed from collection

Simple, single photo of each specimen, ~ 2 min eachnot stacked (~30 min e)

Middle leg or portion thereof removed from each

Arctos records linked to BoLD records / GenBank records

BIN Discordance...

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Numerical coding system

Identifies curation status of storage units- insect drawers- alcohol jars / vials / racks- slide boxes

Smithsonian Curation Standards and Profiling System

McGinley, R.J. (1992) Where's the Management in Collections Management? Planning for Improved Care, Greater Use, and Growth of Collections. In: Palacios, F., C. Martínez & B. Thomas (Eds.) The International Symposium and First World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections, held in Madrid, 10-15 May 1992. Congress Book. Volume 3. Current Issues, Initiatives, and Future Directions for the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections. pp. 309-338.

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LEVEL 1: materials conservationLEVEL 2-4: specimen accessibilityLEVEL 5-6: physical organizationLEVEL 7-9: data captureLEVEL 10: scientific voucher material

- DNA barcoded specimens, imaged = LEVEL 10- GenBank vouchers

Smithsonian Curation Standards and Profiling System

Final Thoughts

- Not entirely altruistic...- photos of 2-3 examples of all specimens identified

to species (even if DNA barcode failed)

- specimen data digitized for all (in our case this was 99% done beforehand)

- research / curatorial “fallout” : cryptic species, phylogeographic data, misidentifications

- helps counter public’s misperception of museums as “old-fashioned”

Final Thoughts

- If funding for databasing and photography is available (often standard in BRC grants)

- then DNA barcoding is not much extra work

- but it is considerably extra cost ($1440 / 95 well plate)

- can arrange with BOLD to have data served to GBIF

Acknowledgments- Graduate Curatorial Assistants

Jill Stockbridge Joey SlowikBrandi Fleshman

- National Science- Current lab techs: Foundation

Sayde Ridling -USDA ARS / FHP

Trista Crass -USFWSSarah Meierotto -NPS

-ADFG- Volunteers: -AK Div of Ag

Steve Peek (Diptera) -USGSMary Wyatt

Questions?