Accelerated biodiversity assessment is the key to
understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem
functioning, especially in times of rapid climate change and habitat
destruction. For the marine fauna of the North Sea, morphological
species identification is impaired by the small size of many taxa,
morphological convergence, intraspecific variation and larval stages
which often elude morphological identification. Accordingly, the use
of molecular methods presents highly promising tools for fast and
accurate species identification. The aim of the new established
research group “molecular taxonomy of marine organisms” at
the German Centre of Marine Biodiversity Research is to test and
develop molecular methods for the identification of the marine fauna
of the North Sea, aiding efforts to monitor biodiversity patterns and
changes. The research will focus on the analysis and identification
of specimens using DNA barcodes, and environmental samples,
in particular zooplankton, using next-generation DNA sequencing
techniques. In addition it is planned to develop molecular methods
for a fast and routine identification of larvae of selected invertebrate
and vertebrate taxa of economic value.
