CSIRO Land and Water, Lucas Heights, NSW 2232, Australia.
Mol Ecol. 2012 Aug;21(15):3637-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05633.x.
Anthropogenic activities are having a deleterious effect on biodiversity. To understand the magnitude of this issue, and ultimately temper its pace, requires reproducible biodiversity measurements at suitable spatio-temporal scales. Procuring such data solely by existing approaches is unachievable because of the costs, time and the taxonomic expertise required. High-throughput molecular biodiversity analysis shows great promise, increasing the breadth of biota sampled and accelerating the rate of data collection. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Yoccoz et al. (2012) use short informative DNA product 'meta-barcodes' to provide an insight into above-ground vascular plant diversity from boreal, temperate and tropical environments. Interestingly, their molecular analysis was derived from the soils and not the plants themselves, with the molecular signatures of the soils not only strongly reflecting current diversity, but also traces of crops not sown for up to one hundred years. Importantly, the research examines the complexities associated with deriving biomass estimates from molecular data and the need to consider biomass turnover. The use of soil-derived meta-barcodes extends beyond estimating vascular plant diversity, with the approach being suited to the range of ecological applications, especially scenarios where DNA may be degraded.
人为活动对生物多样性产生了有害影响。为了了解这个问题的严重程度，并最终减缓其速度，需要在适当的时空尺度上进行可重复的生物多样性测量。由于成本、时间和所需的分类学专业知识，仅通过现有方法获取这些数据是无法实现的。高通量分子生物多样性分析显示出巨大的前景，可以增加采样生物群的广度并加快数据收集的速度。在本期《分子生态学》中，Yoccoz 等人（2012 年）使用短的信息性 DNA 产物“元条形码”，深入了解了来自北方、温带和热带环境的地上维管植物多样性。有趣的是，他们的分子分析来自土壤而不是植物本身，土壤的分子特征不仅强烈反映了当前的多样性，还反映了长达 100 年未播种的作物的痕迹。重要的是，该研究探讨了从分子数据中推导出生物量估计值的复杂性以及需要考虑生物量周转的问题。土壤衍生的元条形码的使用不仅限于估计维管植物多样性，该方法适用于广泛的生态应用，尤其是在 DNA 可能降解的情况下。
