Gombeer, S.,  Meganck, K.,  Van Bourgonie, YR.,  Smitz, N.,  De Meyer, M. & Backeljau, T. 2017. ‘Aliens in Europe’. International Barcode of Life Conference. Book of abstracts, 60. 937-938. DOI: DOI10.13140/RG.2.2.19245.18402.

Résumé de colloque

Background: An increasing number of species are being introduced in Europe, whether by accident or deliberately. Some are able to establish viable populations and may outcompete other species or disrupt ecosystem functioning: these species are called invasive alien species (IAS). In order to (i) protect native biodiversity and ecosystem services, and (ii) mitigate potential impacts on human health and socio-economical activities, the European Commission issued Regulation 1143/2014, reporting on 37 IAS. The Regulation foresees in three types of interventions: (i) prevention, (ii) early detection and rapid eradication, and (iii) management of established populations. Aside from compiling this list and gathering information on presence, distribution, ecology, impacts and management, accurate methods for rapid identification are required when suspicious biological material is being encountered. In cases where a morphological identification is problematic (ex. cryptic species, trace material), DNA-based identifications may represent an alternative method. The purpose of the present work is, therefore, to investigate and evaluate the available molecular identification techniques for each IAS in silico. Results: We investigated the usefulness and accurateness of BOLD (COI for animals; rbcL, ITS2 and matK for plants) and encountered some limits when using BOLD barcodes as only tool for species identification. Knowledge gaps regarding (i) the sequence coverage of the IAS and their sister species, and (ii) the metadata on the vouchers (ex. subspecies, locality) have been detected, which can hamper reliable identification. We therefore investigated the feasibility to complement the BOLD database, as well as the usefulness of complementary markers and methods (e.g. RFLP) in providing reliable and rapid identifications. Significance: The present project aims to provide an up-to-date status on the molecular tools and methods available for rapid and accurate identification of IAS, as well as to optimize and complement them whenever necessary.