Abstract
DNA barcode datasets are a useful tool for conservation and aid in taxonomic identification, particularly in megadiverse tropical countries seeking to document and describe its biota, which is dropping at an alarming rate during recent decades. Here we report the barcodes for several low elevation bird species from northern Colombia with the goal to provide tools for species identification in this region of South America. We blood-sampled birds in a lowland tropical forest with various degrees of intervention using standard 3 × 12 m mist-nets. We extracted DNA and sequenced the COI barcode gene using standard primers and laboratory methods. We obtained 26 COI sequences from 18 species, 10 families and three orders and found that barcodes largely matched (but not always) phenotypic identification (> 90%) and they also facilitated the identification of several challenging passerine species. Despite our reduced sampling, our study represents the first attempt to document COI barcodes for birds (from blood samples) in this part of Colombia, which fills a considerable gap of sampling in this part of South America.
Highlights
DNA barcode reference libraries are a useful tool for conservation and aid in taxonomic identification (Gonzalez et al 2009, Waugh 2007) for many biological groups (Hebert et al 2003)
Since most bird species are under-sampled for DNA barcodes (Mendoza et al 2016) in this part of the tropics, our report represents an important contribution to expand the geographic sampling of several species in South America and it includes the first sequences for Colombia for the following species: Cantorchilus leucotis, Chaetura brachyura, Galbula ruficauda, Myiodynastes luteiventris, Myiozetetes cayanensis, Tolmomyias sulphurescens and Xiphorhynchus susurrans
Most c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) barcodes matched our initial phenotypic identification; for six (6) species, (10 individuals), we found differences between our field identification, the query hits from BOLD’s Identification System (IDS) and the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) BLAST search (Table 2)
Summary
DNA barcode reference libraries are a useful tool for conservation and aid in taxonomic identification (Gonzalez et al 2009, Waugh 2007) for many biological groups (Hebert et al 2003). Megadiverse countries, such as Colombia, are desperately in need of documenting and describing its biota, which is declining at an alarming rate during recent decades (Shaw et al 2013), with emphasis on the putative cryptic diversity present in tropical areas (Crawford et al 2012, Lohman et al 2010, Stefan et al 2018). Birds are an excellent group for implementing DNA barcoding for both species-identification and species-recognition purposes
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