Current and Future CBOL Initiatives

1. Current and Future CBOL Initiatives Consortium for the Barcode of Life National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution http://www.barcoding.si.edu 202/633-0808; fax 202/633-2938 Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

2. CBOL’s Underlying Principles • Respond to taxonomists, other disciplines, applied user communities • Coordination/Facilitation of Bottom-Up activities • Minimalisim (organizational) – build on existing activities rather than constructing new ones • Standardization, cost-effectiveness • Minimalism (scientific) – fewest possible regions • Tangible, realistic goals, near-term results • Global participation Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

3. CBOL-Initiated Projects • Fish Barcode of Life (FISH-BOL) • 30,000 marine/freshwater species by 2010 • All Birds Barcoding Initiative (ABBI) • 10,000 species by 2010 • Tephritid fruit flies • 2,000 pest/beneficial species and relatives by 2008 • Mosquitoes • 3,300 species by 2008 • Freshwater Macroinvertebrates • Water Quality of Maryland streams, with US-EPA • Early planning stage: • African scale insects, Bushmeat Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

4. Projects initiated by others • Marine Zooplankton (CMarZ): Marine habitat, multiple taxa • All-Leps: Multiple regions/habitats, single taxon • BioCode, Moorea: Single location, multiple habitats, multiple taxa Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

5. Launching CBOL Projects Assembling Steering Committee • Users • Taxonomists, collection curators • Service providers (BOLD, DNA labs, training) • Plan for scope, timetable, logistics • Pilot tests of primers, PCR amplification • Assemble pipeline of specimens to lab • Address other logistical issues Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

6. Logistical Issues • The Organization: By taxonomy? Geography? Application? • The Taxonomic Framework: Consensus list of species • The Sampling Strategy • The Supply Chain • The Data: Assembling and comparing data • The Funding • The Resulting Publications Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

7. The Organization FISH-BOL and ABBI: • Regional Working Groups • Steering Committee • Campaign coordinator Mosquitoes and Tephritids: • Highly centralized committee/coordinator Bushmeat: • Mix of users, diverse taxonomists Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

8. Networks Model 2: by location or ecosystem Bold/GenBank Collection Genoscope Taxon name MNHN Extraction facility Unidentifiedvouchers ‘morphospecies’ Identified voucher Research projects Panglao, Santo Researchproject BOA Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

9. The Taxonomic Framework FISH-BOL: Catalyzed consensus list of: • FishBase • Catalog of Fishes • Integrated Taxonomic Information System ABBI: Published species checklist • Cross-check with Species2000, ITIS Mosquitoes and Tephritids: • Checklists developed by users Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

10. The Sampling Strategy How many specimens per species per area? • Under study by Data Analysis WG • FISH-BOL, ABBI: • 5 per species from across geographic range • Minimum one whole voucher per species • Intensive sampling for some species What qualifies as a voucher? Varies widely: • Gold standard museum study specimens • Invasive non-destructive extraction sampling • Totally destructive sampling with e-Voucher Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

11. The Supply Chain • Sources of specimens: • Museum collections ($) • Piggyback on existing field programs ($$) • Dedicated new collecting efforts ($$$$$) • Permits for collecting/international transfer • Expert identification • Data capture, digital imaging, tissue sampling • Curation of voucher specimens, tissue samples, DNA extracts • Moving samples (or extracts or PCR products) to sequencers Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

12. The Data (1) • Assembling and comparing data • CBOL recommends BOLD with subsequent upload to INSDC • Curation and quality control • CBOL/INSDC have established standards, capability to maintain data accuracy • Long-term responsibility of barcoding community Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

13. The Data (2) • Ownership, pre-release access • Project-specific policies • Attitudes range from very open to more protective • Timing of data release • Controlled by owner of data • CBOL urges early release, except for tight connections to hypothesis-driven publications Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

14. The Funding Engage the potential users from the start: • On the Steering Committee, setting priorities • Give repeated presentations to expanding audiences; work toward top policy-makers • Keep them informed of progress Some foundations will take risks, act as catalysts Other foundations will like low-risk projects of which they can take ownership Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006

15. The Resulting Publications • Pilot studies demonstrating effectiveness of barcode region in a new taxon • Regional barcode surveys of a taxon, noting trends toward lumping or splitting • Use of barcodes in ecological, evolutionary studies, applied projects • Progress reports from barcoding campaigns • Synthetic studies of regions, habitats, taxa • Formal taxonomic revisions Eastern Africa Regional Meeting, Nairobi, 18 October 2006