Barcoding projects in Norway
Birds
The goal is to barcode all regularly breeding birds of Norway (about 260 species) plus as many regular and rare visitors as possible. The official Norwegian checklist of birds contains 473 species. In 2007 a total of 259 species were completed, with all specimen and sequence info uploaded to the BOLD database.Our project is part of the "All Birds Barcoding Initiative" which aims for a complete DNA barcode library of the global avifauna (~10 000 species) within 2010. Our project also contributes barcode data on birds from other parts of the world. At present, 176 species from outside Norway have been barcoded.
The barcoding results on Scandinavian birds are now published in a paper by Johnsen et al. called "DNA barcoding of Scandinavian birds reveals divergent lineages
in trans-Atlantic species"
Contact: Jan T. Lifjeld, Arild Johnsen (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Mammals
The goal is to barcode all 90 terrestrial and marine mammal species in Norway. So far (August 2010) 42 species have been successfully barcoded and uploaded to the BOLD database.
Contacts: Roar Solheim (Agder Nature Museum), Øystein Flagstad (The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research), Øystein Wiig (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Freshwater fishes
There are 42 freshwater fishes on the Norway list and the project will barcode all of them. The project will be part of the international FISH-BOL initiative, which aims for a complete DNA barcode library of the ~30 000 fish species of the world.
Contacts: Arild Johnsen, Åge Brabrand (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Skates (Rajidae) in the Northeastern Atlantic
Fourteen species are recorded from Norwegian waters (200 nautical miles off Norway, Svalbard and Jan Mayen). Ten specimens of each species was desirable for barcoding, but difficulties obtaining them may indicate that some species are more rare than previously thought. A total of 92 specimens are barcoded and all specimen and sequence info as well as images are uploaded to BOLD.
One cryptic species, one possible misclassification and several misidentifications were discovered during this project.
Contact: Arve Lynghammar (University of Tromsø), Torkild Bakken (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Museum of Natural History and Archaeology)
Arctic fishes
Many of the Arctic fishes are small and without economic significance. Still, many are caught as by-catch, and current data are too poor for abundance estimates. DNA barcoding of these species could reveal cryptic species and other systematic obscurities, as well as contribute to better identification keys.
Contact: Arve Lynghammar (University of Tromsø)
Crustaceans (Crustacea)
According to the Norwegian Red List there are about 1800 species of crustaceans documented from Norway and adjacent oceans. Two subprojects in this group will be amphipods (429 species) and decapods (107 species).
Contacts: Wim Vader (Amphipoda) (University of Tromsø) and Marit E. Christiansen & Lutz Bachmann (Decapoda) (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Nudibranchs (Nudibranchia)
Nudibranchs (Nudibranchia) is a group of molluscs difficult to identify from preserved specimens. Due to this specimens are usually listed as "Nudibranchia indet." in species lists from different projects. This project aims to establish a library of DNA barcodes of all 90 known Norwegian species of nudibranchs. By doing this we hope that nudibranch species will be listed from different surveys, when DNA barcoding has become more available. Hence, it will contribute to knowledge of biodiversity from the region.
Along the Norwegian coast about 75% of the nudibranch species are possible to find by SCUBA diving. The remaining species are considered rare or are only observed from scattered observations. The project includes Norwegian waters, including coastal areas, the Norwegian Sea, Jan Mayen and Svalbard.
Contact: Torkild Bakken (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Museum of Natural History and Archaeology), Jussi Evertsen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Biology)
Non-biting midges (Chironomidae)
The project has a European perspective and its goal is to barcode 80-90% of the 1200 species of non-biting midges recorded in Europe. The project has several research partners in other European countries. A recently published study by Ekrem et al. documented that DNA barcoding works well as a species identification tool for this group.
Contacts: Torbjørn Ekrem, Elisabeth Stur (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Museum of Natural History and Archaeology)
Blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae)
Blackflies include several species of considerable medical and social importance. Several species are biting pests and vectors of pathogens affecting wild and domestic animals as well as humans. The 40 species registered in Norway are scheduled for barcoding. So far (November 2010) 12 species have been barcoded in relation to a project investigating the factors giving rise to a stable and annual outbreak of the pest blackfly species Simulium truncatum in south-eastern Norway, in the Glomma river system.
Contact: Trond Bremnes (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera)
There are about 2200 Lepidoptera species recorded in Norway (NORLEP database). The project goal is to barcode all of them and to contribute barcode data also from other parts of the world, particularly Africa, to the international All-Leps barcoding campaign. At present (May 2010), 715 samples from 579 species have been barcoded.
Contact: Leif Aarvik (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Locusts, crickets, cockroaches and earwigs (Orthoptera, Blattodea, Dermaptera)
The project will barcode 50 species of these insect orders. (See an online catalogue with fact sheets of species and a checklist). The species are either naturally occuring in Norway or are regularly introduced or imported.
Contact: Lars Ove Hansen (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Wasps (Hymenoptera)
About 4 500 species of Hymenoptera are recorded in Norway, but probably the true number of species is about 8 000. As a start, we focus on ants (Formicidae, 53 species), plant wasps (Symphyta, about 700 species) and bees (Apiformes, 234 species) as we have good taxonomic expertise on these groups in Norway. At present (November 2010), 248 samples from 100 plant wasp species have been barcoded, and 95 more samples from Northern Norway are soon processed.
Contacts: Torstein Kvamme, Ole Lønnve, Lars Ove Hansen (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo), Trond Ellling Barstad (University of Tromsø)
Fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae)
Fungus gnats in the family Mycetophilidae form an extremely common and species rich group of Diptera in northern temperate region. Species of fungus gnats may be vulnerable to modern forestry practices, and as such good indicators of undisturbed forests. The Norwegian fauna comprises 589 species, though, compared to the number of species in our neighbouring countries, one may assert that a high number of species will be discovered in the years to come. So far (2010) 77 samples comprising 51 species have been barcoded. All specimen and sequence info have been uploaded to the BOLD database.
Contact: Geir Søli (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo), Eirik Rindal (Middle Tennessee State University)
Stoneflies (Plecoptera) and mayflies (Ephemeroptera)
Stoneflies and mayflies are groups of insects connected to freshwater. There are 35 stonefly species and 44 mayfly species registered in Norway, and the intention is to barcode all of these. Samples are collected from different localities in Norway to be able to study the geographical variation.
Contacts: Arild Johnsen, Louis Boumans (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
Coleoptera in stored products
This project aims to register DNA barcodes from beetles being important pest species in stored products. To efficiently control such pests, it is necessary to correctly identify the species present as different actions often are needed depending on the species in question. Species identification due to morphological characters may be difficult if only body fragments or pupa/larva stages are available. By constructing a barcode reference library of the pest species, proper species identification of pests found in stored products can be done using DNA barcoding.
Contact: Bjørn Arne Rukke (Norwegian Institute of Public Health)
A new long horned beetle species (Cerambycidae)
The longhorn beetle Leiopus linnei was described from Scandinavia in 2009. The result of the classical taxonomical methods used was tested by barcoding. Two specimens of L.linnei, together with two specimens of its sibling species L. nebulosus, and a specimen of L. punctulatus for comparison, were barcoded. The results confirmed the species status of L. linnei.
Contact: Torstein Kvamme (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo; The Norwegian Forest and Lanscape Institute)
Bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae)
The genus Trypodendron is represented by four species in Scandinavia. These ambrosia beetles are economically important in the whole Palaearctic region as well as North America. The larval galleries are mainly located in wood, not between bark and sapwood. Consequently the species are easily imported with round timber. Debarking of timber does not eliminate the risk of import. Several Asian and North-American species are potential pests. Eight specimens from Norway, representing three species have been barcoded as a pilot project. The results show that the three tested species, T. Lineatum, T. laeve and T. signatum, can be easily identified through barcoding.
Contact: Torstein Kvamme (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo; The Norwegian Forest and Lanscape Institute)
Vascular plants on Svalbard
A project aimed to barcode all Svalbard vascular plants are in these days (May 2010) finished.
Contact: Inger Greve Alsos (University of Tromsø)
The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative
The main goal of The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative is to strengthen our knowledge about poorly known species in Norway. In 2010, 11 projects are ongoing, some of them finished, mapping and collecting material from various groups of fungi, insects, fresh water algae and marine fauna. Sampled species will be barcoded. The Initiative is run by The Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre.
Contact: Ingrid Salvesen (The Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre)
BarFrost – Reconstruction of past ecosystems by barcoding DNA preserved in permafrost
In this project, DNA barcoding is used to analyse past arctic biodiversity from ancient DNA preserved in permafrost. Specific DNA barcoding markers (shorter than the standard barcoding markers) that are suitable for amplification and identification of degraded DNA in environmental samples for several groups of organisms (bryophytes, fungi, insects, springtails, vertebrates) are designed. These markers are subsequently used for amplification of taxa from more than 600 permafrost soil samples collected throughout the Arctic, ranging in age from recent to several hundreds of thousands of years before present. To enable accurate species identification from the barcoding markers, taxonomic reference databases are constructed by sequencing the markers in modern ecologically important arctic and boreal species. The new data obtained in this project, along with complementary data for vascular plants (see Ecochange project), will be used to reconstruct the biodiversity of past ecosystems.
Contact: Christian Brochmann (Natural History Museum, University of Oslo)
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