Detecting ‘invaders in disguise’ – DNA barcoding of invasive plant species in Austria
Biological invasions have become a major concern in the past decades. It is generally accepted that an early detection of new alien species is essential because lag-phases (‘invasion debt’) are on average 20–30 years, meaning that today’s rare but fast spreading aliens may become tomorrow’s noxious weeds. In the past years it has become evident that an increasing number of non‐native vascular plants have become naturalized or even invasive without ever being noticed. A well suited approach for early detection of non-native species, even if these do not exhibit the diagnostic features required for determination, is DNA barcoding. This PhD project is focusing on ultrabarcoding of species from the genera Chenopodium s.l. from the Amaranthaceae and Eragrostis and Panicum from the Poaceae to gain information about cryptic invasive species (‘invaders in disguise’) in Austria. For that purpose, NGS techniques (“genome skimming“ with and without a PCR step) are applied to sequence complete plastid genomes and nuclear ribosomal DNA. The method with a PCR step is functioning well even with historical herbarium vouchers (“herbarium genomics”). It will be tested (i) if ‘invaders in disguise’ can be detected with standard DNA barcoding techniques, (ii) if DNA barcoding can help quantifying invasion debts of potentially invasive species in Austria; and (iii) if traditional alpha taxonomy in combination with DNA barcoding can improve accuracy of species identification and further refine taxonomic classification of cryptic invasive plant species. This project will be of relevance in developing management and monitoring strategies for invasive plants.
Team
Mag. Clemens Pachschwöll
University of Vienna
Ass.-Prof. Dr. Gerald Schneeweiss
University of Vienna
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Franz Essl
University of Vienna, Umweltbundesamt
PhD project of C. Pachschwöll funded by uni:docs (University of Vienna)
Project status: active
Subscribe to our ABOL news
Latest News
- V. KarglABOL at the Long Night of Museums 202426. November, 2024 - 15:18
Are names written in the genes? We pursued this question at the Long Night of Museums on Saturday, October 5, 2024, until late into the night! Different aspects of DNA barcoding were presented by the ABOL coordination team and the central research laboratories: Visitors were welcome to try extract DNA from tomatoes live, put together […]
- M. SonnleitnerABOL BioBlitz in the Hohen Tauern8. August, 2024 - 14:55
The last ABOL BioBlitz 2024 during the Days of Biodiversity took place on the first weekend in August in the Hohe Tauern National Park. In almost traditionally bad weather, around 75 experts swarmed out to record biodiversity in the Habachtal in the Salzburg part of the Hohe Tauern National Park. The breaks in the rain […]
- M. SonnleitnerGEO Day of Biodiversity in South Carinthia17. July, 2024 - 15:04
On the first weekend in July, the ABOL-BioBlitz was a guest at the GEO Day of Biodiversity in the Geopark Karawanken, this year for the first time in southern Carinthia. After the welcome and introductory words in Bleiburg, the Globasnitzbachtal was investigated in the afternoon and evening of the first day. There was something for […]