About This Project

Large regions of Northern California are as listed as "Un-sampled" on the CA Biodiversity Database. Lets fix that!!

Let's perform the first multi-taxa collections in un-sampled areas of Northern California including Shasta, Siskiyou, and Trinity forests.

We hypothesize that multi-taxa sampling in previously un-sampled regions of Northern California will reveal undocumented biodiversity, including potentially rare or regionally distinct fungi, soil organisms, insects, lichens, and bryophytes.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

We know that climate change is occurring, and we estimate we are losing species that we don't even know exist yet. This sample collection effort will focus on collecting from under-sampled areas of California to document diversity that may be disappearing. The goal is long-term storage of these specimens so that future analysis will be possible, before the these areas are completely transformed by climate change.

Biodiversity Loss - Climate change is increasingly becoming the dominant factor, often acting in tandem with land-use changes. The most significant impact is observed in localized extinctions, where species are unable to shift their range to suitable climates fast enough. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

What is the significance of this project?

Just in the past few years it has become possible to efficiently analyze DNA from ecological samples to determine what actually exists.

DNA Extraction Methodology

Many new species are discovered this way, and its becoming more apparent that localized variants of many organisms exist that were previously assumed to be identical to neighboring organisms. These localized endemic species may disappear soon due to changes in habitats.

Samples and analysis are the first step to understanding if localized species are moving to new areas. With more data and collections, we may find means to improve forest health, mitigate crop pathogens, explain insect population changes, control invasive species, and possible breakthroughs in medical science and human and animal health.

This multi-taxa project will highlight the connections between organisms. Rather than analyzing individual collections of one type of organism, we will perform a multi-taxa biome DNA survey.

What are the goals of the project?

The goal is simple: to efficiently collect samples from under-studied taxa in under-sampled locations.

These collections will be prepped, DNA analyzed, documented, and put into long-term storage in the ATBI Warehouse. We expect to perform future additional analysis as technology improves, but we must collect from these areas soon before climate change causes habitats to be transformed.