Presented at Botany 2010, Providence, Rhode Island, 1-5 August 2010, & 2010 SPNHC-CBA Joint Conference, Ottawa, ON, 31 May – 5 June 2010

1. DNA barcoding the vascular plant flora of
the Canadian Arctic
Jeffery M. Saarela, Lynn J. Gillespie, Laurie L. Consaul,
Roger D. Bull, Brianna N. Chouinard, Paul Abraham, Julian R. Starr
Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence

2. Field Work Support Barcode Data
Polar Continental Shelf Program, Paul Hebert, Guelph University, Ontarioa
Natural Resources Canada Maria Kuzmina & staff at the Canadian Center
Parks Canada for DNA Barcoding (CCDB), Guelph, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Nature Genome Canada
NSERC Canadian Museum of Nature
Inuvialuit people of the western
Canadian Arctic

3. The Canadian Arctic
ca. 800 vascular plant species

4. Projected changes in the Arctic climate, 2090
Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment (ACIA), 2005

5. Climate change and Arctic vegetation
Vegetation communities are changing
e.g., shrubs are getting bigger, more dense
Predicted that some species ranges are likely to expand,
others are likely to contract

6. Treeline is likely to change, and some plant species are
expected to migrate N as temperature increases

7. Plant Species Diversity and
Distribution
Floras of the Canadian Arctic
A.E. Porsild –1955, 1957, 1980
(w/ Cody) Aiken et al. 2007
We are now in the initial planning
Flora of Northern Quebec
stages for a new:
and Labrador
(in progress – forthcoming 2011?)
Vascular Plant Flora of the
Canadian Arctic
Gillespie, Saarela & collaborators

8. Prince Patrick I
Melville I
Banks I
2010
Victoria Island
Baffin I
2009 2008
Poster -
Consaul et al.
Cambridge Bay

9. Barcoding the Arctic Flora

10. Two proposals for an official plant barcode were made
Option One Option Two
rbcL + matK + trnH-psbA rbcL + matK
Consortium for the
Barcode of Life
“The Executive Committee therefore concludes that only rbcL and matK are
approved and required barcode regions for land plants. ”
“However, the Executive Committee accepted the review panel's recommendation to reassess the situation in 18
months. The current inability of the proposed plant barcode to resolve more than ~70% of species indicates that
improvement in the approach is needed, along with more rbcL and matK data. A reassessment in 18 months would
evaluate progress being made on matK primers and sequence assembly techniques for non-coding regions such as
trnH-psbA.”
And now ITS2 is contending for barcode status (!)
Chen et al. 2010 PLoS ONE

11. Sedges are everywhere in the Arctic

12. Arctic island sedge diversity . . . 40%
C. atrofusca C. aquatilis var. minor C. bicolor C. bigelowii subsp. lugens
C. glareosa C. glacialis C. maritima C. garberi
C. petricosa C. scirpoidea
C. nardina C. membranacea

13. Barcoding Arctic Island Sedges (Carex & Kobresia)
A Regional Approach to DNA Barcoding
Le Clerc-Blain et al. 2010, Mol. Ecol. Res.
Tested seven plastid regions
- matK was the best matK
20 spp.
95% success
SW Victoria Island, 2008

14. Barcoding works for Arctic sedges -- some taxa differ by only a single nucleotide
Carex Carex
membranacea saxatalis

15. Applications for Arctic plant barcode data
Added precision in ecological studies…at least for some taxa
“As plot moisture continues to increase . . .
graminoids (i.e., Eriophorum spp. and Carex spp.) or Barcoding can help!
bryophytes (i.e., Sphagnum spp.) or both become
dominant “
- Laidler et al. 2008, Arctic
?
Remote sensing of Arctic vegetation
Boothia Peninsula, Nunavut

16. Moving forward with barcoding the entire
Canadian Arctic flora….

19. 571 specimens & 262 species as of early June, 2010

20. Barcoding the
Arctic Flora Asteraceae
matK + rbcL Salicaceae
individuals = 194
Scrophulariaceae
nucleotides =1431
Ericaceae
Parnassiaceae
Primulaceae
Rosaceae
Caryophyllaceae
n t a x = 1 9 4 n c h a r = 1 4 3 1 ;
Fabaceae Polygonaceae
Ranunculaceae
Papaveraceae
Onagraceae
Poaceae
Brassicaceae
Saxifragaceae Cyperaceae

21. There is no plastid variation in Salix
Salix niphoclada
matK + rbcL
Salix arctica Salix hastata
Salix richardsonii

22. Brassicaceae
- mustard family -
Genus-level resolution
Draba corymbosa
Draba cinerea
Eutrema edwardsii
Cardamine pratensis
Parrya arctica Descurainia sophioides

23. Asteraceae
- sunflower family -
Genus-level resolution
Taraxacum hyperboreum Taraxacum phymatocarpum
Askellia nana
Artemisia borealis
Antennaria media
Symphiotrichum pygmaeum

24. Ericaceae
- heath family -
Genus-level resolution
Rhododendron tomentosum
Rhododendron lapponicum
Empetrum nigrum
Vaccinium vitis-idaea Andromeda polifolia
Arctous rubra
Cassiope tetragona

25. Caryophyllaceae
- pink family -
Genus and some species-level resolution

26. Orobanchaceae, Plantaginaceae,
Lentibulariaceae
Genus and some species-level resolution

27. ITS variation in Arctic Puccinellia
diploids & polyploids

28. Preliminary Conclusion
In most Arctic plant families, current plastid barcode data can clearly and reliably
distinguish most genera. Species-level resolution varies.
**BUT – many Arctic genera have only one or a few species, so at a regional
level (Arctic) barcoding performs fairly well.

29. Plant DNA barcoding is one more tool for the botanical toolkit.
Usually you need more than one tool to do a job properly.
And it’s always nice to have access to all the tools!