by Nathan Brouwer

Created on: June 09, 2008

High-tech DNA techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing, and micro-arrays have revolutionized all aspects of biology. My genetics professor as an undergrad, a traditional bristle-counting fruit fly geneticist, predicted that molecular genetic techniques would spark are theoretical and technical revolution in biology akin to the paradigm shift that quantum mechanics caused in physics. Medicine, ecology, taxonomy; they will never be the same.

Genetic barcoding will undoubtedly change taxonomy and systematics dramatically. Developing diagnostic barcodes for different taxa will allow much higher resolution and much faster speed in characterizing new species. New organisms will be able to be identified simply by "dredging" soil, water, and other substrates. A sample of any material could then be screened using barcoding techniques and any new species would emerge through the magic of PCR. Taxonomy is often marginalized as an esoteric activity best suited for Victorian parlours and musty beetle collectors. Our most important biologists, from Darwin and Wallace to E.O. Wilson, have all been detail-orientated taxonomists. Barcoding will likely bring taxonomy into greater significance in the study of all fields of biology, from human diseases to biodiversity.

While barcoding in the lab will help identify millions of new microorganisms and resolve the phylogeny of thousands of other taxa, a large portion of taxonomy will remain down and dirty. Field-based taxonomy requires more than just deft laboratory skills, but a keen eye, years of experience, and naturalists spirit of adventure. It this type of taxonomy - in the jungle, under the sun - that will remain most important for defining ecological interactions and developing conservation plans to conserve the world's severely threatened biodiversity.

E.O Wilson estimates that the number of species on the earth varies between 3.5 to over 110 million most of which have not been discovered. Wilson is the world's leading proponent of routing out as many species as possible, most of which are bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. It is invertebrates and vertebrates, from monarch butterflies to orangutans, that are of the most imperiled by deforestation and climate change. The number of these organisms are not insignificant: the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN) has tallied close to 1.2 million invertebrates and at least 60,000 vertebrates. Almost 9,000 of these are considered

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