Biodiversity Center of Belize

We welcome our new collaborator for this project: The Biodiversity Center of Belize (BioBelize). This is a research institute located just down the road from TREES in the city of Dangriga. The Director of Research is Stephen Harris, a PhD candidate in evolutionary biology at the City University of New York. He has offered to conduct DNA barcoding of the specimens we collect in order to build a complimentary genetic library of the collection. What an amazing collaboration opportunity to increase further information about the biodiversity fauna of Belize!

For those of you unfamiliar with DNA barcoding, this is a technique using DNA to help make species determinations. Thus, this technique is another helpful tool in taxonomic research and, when taken in combination with standard taxonomy methods that use morphology measures, can be very effective for species determinations. The standard barcode used for almost all animal groups is a 648 base-pair region in the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene - which has been found to be very effective in identifying animals. For the insects in the collection, the process involves collecting some tissue from the insect (perhaps a leg, for example) and then processing and sequencing the DNA to develop a unique "molecular signature" of that species. Traditional taxonomic methods can be used to ascertain the species identity of the insect and that determination is associated with the DNA barcode. The data obtained from the entomology collection will help build a complimentary genetic library of the insects in that area of Belize.

BioBelize also works to train students from Galen University and some colleges in Belize to perform DNA barcoding. Thus, not only are these students receiving advanced training in DNA analysis but they are also contributing to the development of knowledge of the biodiversity of Belize.

Please explore the webpage for BioBelize at http://www.biobelize.com. For more information about BioBelize's DNA barcoding curriculum, an article has been published in the journal Science - this can be seen at: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6165/1462.full.