1. Building a DNA
Barcode library
of Alaska's
nonmarine
arthropods
Derek Sikes & Casey Bickford
University of Alaska Museum
Fairbanks, AK
Entomological Collections Network
Austin, TX 2013-11-09

2. © Henri Goulet

5. Map of all georeferenced spider records in Arctos 2012-11-14

6. Mission
To create a resource that makes publicly available as
much information as possible concerning the nonmarine arthropods of Alaska.
Using specimens + literature + „grey‟ literature
Which species occur in Alaska?
Where do these species occur?
What do they do? / Are they changing?

7. Mission
Which species occur in Alaska?
~8,000 nonmarine arthropod species
USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
- hope to use DNA Barcode methods for
monitoring
- must first build a DNA Barcode library for
Alaska‟s arthropod species

8. Cumulative AK Species Added to Database
all records
8191
UAM specimen based records
2596

10. Methods
Plan:
Contribute to iBoL, DNA Barcodes of
2-3 specimens per authoritatively identified species
< 10yrs old
~2000 species, ~6,250 specimens
~30% of the state fauna – all nonmarine arthropod
taxa

11. Methods
Compared two labs
Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding (CCDB)
$12/specimen
Smithsonian Institute (SI)
$9/specimen
Two 95 well plates with tissues from same 95
specimens

12. Methods
Compared two labs
Both agreed that the lab not chosen would
forfeit payment for the test plate
If Smithsonian was chosen they would provide
sequences/chromatograms and we would
upload (= more work for us).

13. Methods
Compared two labs
CCDB had higher success rate (95% vs 80%)
SI lab had a contamination issue
CCDB more efficient
95 * $12 = $1,140 / plate

14. Smithsonian test plate

15. CCDB test plate

16. 95 Specimens removed from collection

17. Simple, single photo of each specimen, ~ 2 min each
not stacked (~30 min e)

22. Middle leg or portion thereof removed from each

23. Arctos records linked to BoLD records / GenBank records

29. BIN Discordance...

30. Smithsonian Curation Standards
and Profiling System
Numerical coding system
Identifies curation status of storage units
- insect drawers
- alcohol jars / vials / racks
- slide boxes
McGinley, R.J. (1992) Where's the Management in Collections Management? Planning for
Improved Care, Greater Use, and Growth of Collections. In: Palacios, F., C. Martínez & B.
Thomas (Eds.) The International Symposium and First World Congress on the Preservation and
Conservation of Natural History Collections, held in Madrid, 10-15 May 1992. Congress Book.
Volume 3. Current Issues, Initiatives, and Future Directions for the Preservation and
Conservation of Natural History Collections. pp. 309-338.
30

31. Smithsonian Curation Standards
and Profiling System
LEVEL 1: materials conservation
LEVEL 2-4: specimen accessibility
LEVEL 5-6: physical organization
LEVEL 7-9: data capture
LEVEL 10: scientific voucher material
- DNA barcoded specimens, imaged = LEVEL 10
- GenBank vouchers
31

32. Final Thoughts
- Not entirely altruistic...
- photos of 2-3 examples of all specimens identified
to species (even if DNA barcode failed)
- specimen data digitized for all (in our case this
was 99% done beforehand)
- research / curatorial “fallout” : cryptic species,
phylogeographic data, misidentifications
- helps counter public‟s misperception of museums
as “old-fashioned”

33. Final Thoughts
- If funding for databasing and photography is
available (often standard in BRC grants)
- then DNA barcoding is not much extra work
- but it is considerably extra cost ($1440 / 95
well plate)
- can arrange with BOLD to have data served
to GBIF

34. Acknowledgments
-Graduate Curatorial Assistants
Jill Stockbridge
Joey Slowik
Brandi Fleshman
-Current lab techs:
Sayde Ridling
Trista Crass
Sarah Meierotto
- Volunteers:
Steve Peek (Diptera)
Mary Wyatt
- National Science
Foundation
-USDA ARS / FHP
-USFWS
-NPS
-ADFG
-AK Div of Ag
-USGS

35. Questions?