► Description: |
More than two third area of our planet is
covered by oceans and assessment of marine
biodiversity is a challenging task. With
the increasing global population, there is
a tendency to exploit marine recourses for
food, energy and other requirements. This
puts pressure on the fragile marine
environment and necessitates sustainable
conservation efforts. Marine species
identification using traditional
taxonomical methods are often burdened
with taxonomic controversies. Here in this
book we will discuss the comparatively new
concept of DNA barcoding and its
significance in marine perspective. This
molecular technique can be useful in the
assessment of cryptic species which is
widespread in marine environment and
linking the different life cycle stages to
the adult which is difficult to accomplish
in the marine ecosystem. Other advantages
of DNA barcoding include authentication
and safety assessment of seafood, wildlife
forensics, conservation genetics and
detection of invasive alien species (IAS).
Global DNA barcoding efforts in the marine
habitat include MarBOL, CeDAMar, CMarZ,
SHARK-BOL, etc. DNA barcoding of different
marine groups ranging from the microbes to
mammals is to be revealed. In conjugation
with newer and faster techniques like high
throughput sequencing, DNA barcoding is
serving as an effective modern tool in
marine biodiversity assessment and
conservation.
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