Since the advent of DNA taxonomy and DNA barcoding, our understanding of the biological diversity in freshwater habitats shifted and improved. Now, we know that morphological approaches in species identification may be misleading, and only the integration of different tools in taxonomy can help us providing a reliable assessment of biodiversity. I will show a few examples of the presence and prevalence of cryptic species on a wide range of aquatic organisms, ranging from microscopic ones to large vertebrates, obtained using newly developed statistical approaches in species identification from DNA data. Moreover, I will provide evidence that avoiding considering the issue of cryptic species in limnology can produce biased and unreliable inference; I will provide examples from faunistic surveys of aquatic habitats, conservation priorities, plankton ecology, species co-occurrence and paleolimnology.
The effect of cryptic diversity on limnological inference
Diego Fontaneto
2013
Abstract
Since the advent of DNA taxonomy and DNA barcoding, our understanding of the biological diversity in freshwater habitats shifted and improved. Now, we know that morphological approaches in species identification may be misleading, and only the integration of different tools in taxonomy can help us providing a reliable assessment of biodiversity. I will show a few examples of the presence and prevalence of cryptic species on a wide range of aquatic organisms, ranging from microscopic ones to large vertebrates, obtained using newly developed statistical approaches in species identification from DNA data. Moreover, I will provide evidence that avoiding considering the issue of cryptic species in limnology can produce biased and unreliable inference; I will provide examples from faunistic surveys of aquatic habitats, conservation priorities, plankton ecology, species co-occurrence and paleolimnology.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
