Incorporation of DNA barcoding into a large-scale biomonitoring program: opportunities and pitfalls

Does DNA barcoding improve performance of traditional stream bioassessment metrics?

“…Previous researchers have suggested that the diagnostic ability of bioassessment metrics might be improved if groups that are taxonomically difficult to identify could be used. Many of these potentially useful groups are not routinely identified to species because they are poorly described or technically difficult to identify (Pilgrim et al 2011, Sweeney et al 2011. For example, the Chironomidae are diverse and exhibit a wide range of pollution tolerances (Lencioni et al 2012), but typically are identified only to family or genus level.…”

“…For example, the Chironomidae are diverse and exhibit a wide range of pollution tolerances (Lencioni et al 2012), but typically are identified only to family or genus level. The difficulty of obtaining species-level data deprives managers of information associated with the diversity, niche specialization, and relative disturbance tolerances of individual species (Pilgrim et al 2011, Sweeney et al 2011. Similarly, the genus Simulium (black flies) contains ∼40 subgenera worldwide, with 11 subgenera and 153 species recognized in North America (Adler et al 2004).…”

“…For example, use of DNA barcoding resulted in a >5× increase in the number of sensitive Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa detected, and improvements were most marked for rare species, which may be diagnostic of specific habitat or water-quality conditions . Pilgrim et al (2011) used DNA barcoding and detected up to 3× more EPT taxa than had been previously documented in Maryland. When averaged over all aquatic insect orders, only 51% of the specimens that were identified to species by barcoding could be identified to species by expert taxonomists given issues with specimen condition, size, level of maturity, or lack of taxonomic keys (Sweeney et al 2011).…”

Biological assessment of streams and rivers in U.S. - design, methods, and analysis

“…The development of molecular and genetic techniques is a future direction that is showing promise for early detection of stressor effects on individuals. A recent study by Pilgrim et al (2011) hypothesized that DNA barcoding could provide greater discriminatory ability than current genus-level identifications of species, which could lead to more specific and sensitive assessments of water bodies, however, their analysis demonstrated limited advantages of this technique.…”

DNA barcoding of mayflies (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) from South India

“…The application of DNA barcoding to freshwater biomonitoring has generated much interest for several reasons (Hajibabaei et al 2011;Pilgrim et al 2011;Sweeney et al 2011). DNA barcodes have also implied in studying the systematics, diversity, ecology, biogeography, and conservation of aquatic insects Gattolliat et al 2015).…”