Canadian Forest Service Publications
Molecular Dimensions of Insect Taxonomy in the Genomics Era. 2017.Roe, A., Dupuis, J. and Sperling, F. In Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society (eds R. G. Foottit and P. H. Adler), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781118945568.ch16
Year: 2017
Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 39073
Language: English
CFS Availability: Not available through the CFS (click for more information).
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1002/9781118945568.ch16
† This site may require a fee
Plain Language Summary
This chapter reviews the molecular dimensions of insect taxonomy by focusing on high-throughput sequencing and other genomic advances. It then focuses on three facets of the emerging relationship among taxonomy, systematics, and genomic methodology. The chapter addresses taxonomy conceptually, considering the four fundamental problems in taxonomic science. It then briefly summarizes the main types of genomic platforms and technologies that are currently widely available, and identifies how various approaches are tailored for different taxonomic questions. The chapter also addresses the interaction between taxonomy and genomics from the viewpoint of a practicing taxonomist who is just beginning to delve into the genomic revolution. One of the most obvious applications of molecular methods in taxonomy is to provide new sets of characters that show clear discontinuities in assemblages that were previously seen as more or less continuous. The chapter explores how next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques are used to answer taxonomic questions within the D3P framework.
