Additional benefits of DNA barcoding stem from the ease with which these data are incorporated into population genetic and phylogenetic analyzes, thus providing added value to the DNA barcode beyond the species name (e.g. historical biogeography, demographic trends etc.), especially if additional molecular markers are available. For example, we referred above to analyzes based on species, but the use of phylogenetic estimates derived

from this same information offer a way to side-step species while potentially increasing Galunisertib predictive power. Studies are now exploring the application of measures extending the “phylogenetic diversity” measure (“PD”; Faith 1992). PD analyzes of the information from large-scale DNA barcoding programs can provide a range of biodiversity assessment and monitoring applications (Faith and Baker, 2006). Smith and Fisher (2009) demonstrated that PD applied to phylogenetic patterns derived from DNA barcoding provided

good estimates of species richness and species-level “complementarity” values – measures of biodiversity gains or losses (see also Zhou et al., 2009 and Krishnamurthy and Francis, 2012). Finally, DNA sequences are ‘born digital’ and are easily (and freely) retained in public databases where they can be retrieved and reinterpreted as necessary (e.g. if a group is subject to taxonomic revision). Traditional approaches to species identification, by contrast, often rely on specialist knowledge and it can be hard to verify the decisions made even when detailed records (photographs and specimens) are kept. DNA barcoding is also able to leverage many web-based tools (including those buy BMS-754807 generated originally for biomedical purposes) that can greatly increase its potential usage. While informatics challenges remain in the tracking of DNA sequences and retaining linkage to related biodiversity data and metadata (e.g. photos, PAK5 specimens, species names) across projects and institutions, and public repositories, pipelines are becoming increasingly

robust and advances in semantic web technology are helping to improve tracking and discoverability of specimens and digital biodiversity data (e.g. the BiSciCol project). DNA based species identification can take quite a long time unless the field collections happen in close proximity to a suitably equipped laboratory for carrying out PCR and sequencing. Typically samples need to be shipped to a laboratory but once there the turnaround time can be a matter of hours. High throughput laboratories are able to process a huge number of samples very rapidly, with the bottleneck remaining the speed at which samples can be moved from field to lab. Furthermore, recent work by Zhou et al. has demonstrated the potential for directly sequencing DNA barcodes using the Illumina NGS platform without the need for the prior step of PCR amplification (Zhou et al., 2013).