This project is funded by the Government of Canada through Genome Canada, the Ontario Genomics Institute (2008-OGI-ICI-03) and the Canadian Museum of Nature. We are grateful for the assistance of Maria Kuzmina at the Canadian Center for DNA Barcoding, University of Guelph, Canada.

Distribution of 1530 voucher specimens sampled so far for the Flora of the Canadian Arctic Barcode Project (BOLD Systems Project ID: FCA). Most voucher specimens are deposited at the National Herbarium of Canada (CAN). Map courtesy of Google.

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Jeffery M. Saarela, Lynn J. Gillespie, Laurie L. Consaul, Julian R. Starr, Roger D. Bull and Paul C. Sokoloff

The Panarctic Flora comprises some 2-3 thousand vascular plant taxa (species, subspecies), less than 1% of the world’s vascular plant flora. Some 1450 taxa occur in Arctic North America, and 1256 taxa (965 species) occur in the Canadian Arctic (Elven et al., Panarctic Flora, 2011).

Arctic ecosystems are among the most rapidly changing on the planet in response to global climate change. Accurate identification of Arctic plant species is critical for monitoring, studying and understanding potential climate-induced changes in their diversity and distributions.

We are generating plastid DNA barcode data (matK and rbcL) for the Canadian Arctic vascular plant flora to facilitate rapid identification.

Geographical extent of the Arctic in Canada and the North Slope of Alaska

(western Alaskan Arctic not included here)

Arctic tundra on northwestern Victoria Island, NorthwestTerritories

Ask

elli

a n

an

aH

on

ckenya

peoplo

ides

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Cyp

era

ceae

Poaceae

Pap

avera

ceae

Ran

un

cu

laceae

On

ag

raceae

Saxifra

gaceae

Bra

ssic

aceae

Halo

rag

aceae

Parn

assia

ceae

Ela

eag

naceae

Aste

raceae

Neighbor-joining tree of 1530 concatenated matK and rbcL sequences. Bootstrap support:

100% 90-99% 80-89% 70-79% <70%

Betu

lacea

e

Rosaceae

Salic

aceae

Fab

aceae

Plu

mb

ag

inaceae

Mon

tiaceae

Poly

gon

aceae

Cary

op

hylla

ceae

Oro

ban

ch

aceae

Pla

nta

gin

aceae

Len

tibu

laria

ceae

Gen

tian

aceae

Eric

aceae

Prim

ula

ceae

Pole

mon

iaceae

Dia

pen

sia

ceae

Men

yan

thaceae

Ap

iaceae

Cam

pan

ula

ceaeV

ale

rian

aceae

Cap

rifolia

ceae

Tofi

eld

iaceae

Poto

mog

eto

naceae

Jun

cag

inaceae

Orc

hid

aceae

Lilia

ceae

Typ

haceae

Lin

aceae

Progress:We have generated DNA barcode data from 1530 individuals representing some 479 Arctic taxa (409 species and 72 infraspecific taxa) in 39 families. An additional 1486 samples from 234 taxa have been selected for amplification and sequencing, or have been successfully sequenced for one of the two barcoding loci. Once complete, these data will represent some 3000 rbcL + matK barcode sequences for 713 (70%) of the estimated 1013 vascular plant taxa in the Canadian Arctic.

MatK + rbcL DNA barcode data distinguish Arctic plant families with strong support, but most deeper and shallower lineages are more poorly supported.

monocots eudicots

Draba

ArabisEutrema

Braya

Cochlearia

Erysimum

Transberingia

Descurainia

Physaria

Parrya

Cardamine

Arabidopsis

matK + rbcL DNA barcodes can distinguish species and genera in some Arctic plant families

Neighbour joining bootstrap branch support:

100% 90-99% 80-89% 70-79% <70%

Ericaceae BrassicaceaeCyperaceae - Carex and Kobresia

R. B

ull

Orthilia secunda

Pyrola grandiflora

Arctous rubra

Andromeda polifoliaVaccinium uliginosumVaccinium vitis-idaea

Harrimanella hypnoides

Cassiope tetragona

Empetrum nigrum

Loiseleuria procumbensPhyllodoce caerula

Rhododendron tomentosumRhododendron lapponicum

Carex canescens/Carex marina

Kobresia myosuroidesKobresia simpliciuscula

Carex aquatilis var. minor/ Carex subspathacea

Carex supina

Carex disperma/Carex rarifloraCarex podocarpa/Carex spectabilis

Carex maritima

Carex bigelowii s.l.

Carex norvegica

Carex ursina

Carex nardinaCarex rupestris

Carex garberi/ Carex bicolor

Carex vaginataCarex atrofusca

Carex scirpoidea subsp. scirpoides

Carex glacialis

Carex saxatilis/Carex membranacea

Carex rotundata

Carex holostoma

Carex concinnaCarex krausei

Carex petricosa subsp. petricosaCarex capillaris subsp. fuscidula

Carex fuliginosa subsp. misandra

Carex lachenalli

Kobresia sibirica

Barcode data can distinguish most Arctic species of Carex and Kobresia, many of which are distantly related. However, bootstrap support for most species lineages is low, as they are distinguished by few characters.

Ericaceae genera are clearly distinguished with strong support, and there is informative interspecific plastid variation in genera with more than one Arctic species, including Rhododendron and Vaccinium. Barcoding works well to identify Arctic Ericaceae species because the genera have one or very few species in the Arctic .

Barcode data effectively distinguish the Arctic genera of Brassicaceae, but infrageneric variation is low and most congeneric species are not distinguished, especially in the taxonomically difficult genus Draba.

Thlaspi

Species in some taxonomically complicated Arctic genera are not resolved with barcode data

A complete species-level DNA barcode database for Arctic plants will no doubt facilitate some future ecological and systematic research on the Arctic flora, but nuclear-based barcode markers will need to be developed to identify species-specific nucleotide differences in taxonomically difficult groups with minimal plastid variation.

Potentilla and allies (Rosaceae)

Salix (Salicaceae)

Taraxacum (Asteraceae)

There is little plastid variation among Arctic species of Salix. Substitutions are present in a few individuals (as indicated by branch length variation), but these do not follow species boundaries.

R. B

ull

R. B

ull

R. B

ull

R. B

ull

Sibbaldia procumbens

Dasiphora fruticosa

Potentilla anserina subsp. egedii

Potentilla biflora/P. bimindorum

Potentilla sects. Niveae & Pennslyvanicae

Comarum palustre

Three genera formerly considered members of Potentilla (Dasiphora, Sibbaldia and Comarum) are readily distinguished using barcode data, but Arctic species of Potentilla s.s. are not, most notably in Potentilla sections Niveae and Pennsylvanicae, in which hybridization is rampant.

R. B

ull

Neighbour joining bootstrap branch support:

100% 90-99% 80-89% 70-79% <70%

T. ceratophorum / T. carneocoloratumT. lapponicum / T. hyperboreum / T. ceratophorum

T. ceratophorum / T. holmenianum /T. hyparcticum

T. hyparcticum / T. phymatocarpum /T. holmeniaum

Barcode data do not provide reliable resolution for Arctic Taraxacum species, which are native only in the Arctic in North America. Minor infraspecific variation in Taraxacum (i.e., multiple single substitutions) does not follow currently recognized species boundaries, possibly as a result of apomixis, polyploidy, hybridization and introgression, which all occur in the dandelion genus.

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