From Bugs to Barcodes: Using Molecular Tools to Study Biodiversity

 

Madeline Butler, Heather Henter, & Stephanie Mel

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2014, Volume 35

Abstract

Biodiversity refers to the variety of species within an ecosystem. Most species on earth have yet to be identified, and there is an ongoing international effort to build a complete species inventory. Many students are aware of the importance of biodiversity but few realize that they can play an important role in addressing this biodiversity knowledge gap. DNA barcoding is a technique that uses a specific region of DNA as a genetic marker to identify species. In this module, students learn how to document biodiversity using ecological, molecular, and bioinformatics tools while generating novel data.

Keywords:  PCR, DNA, bioinformatics, biodiversity, barcoding, sequencing

University of Calgary (2013)