Biodiversity genomics: Prospects for national parks in Poland
Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology UniLodz, PolBol, Tatra National Park (TNP)
TNP Centre for Nature Education, Zakopane (Poland), 13-14 November 2024
Last November, the University of Lodz organised the “Biodiversity genomics: Prospects for national parks in Poland” citizen science event at the TNP Centre for Nature Education, Zakopane (Poland). A total of 19 employees (scientists, heads of the parks, rangers) from eight Polish national parks took part in the workshop. The workshop focused on presenting new directions in biodiversity research in protected areas using DNA (meta)barcoding and exploring its potential for biodiversity documenting, monitoring, and the development of scientific research in Polish national parks.
Overview of the event
During the first theoretical part of the workshop, the participants got familiarised with molecular methods used in biodiversity assessment. Most of the event was devoted to practicing the barcoding procedures, starting from adding data to BOLD, specimen preparation, amplification of barcoding markers (PCRs) to library preparation and ONT sequencing. During the final step of the practical part, the participants all got to see the list of species covered during the workshop.
As the aim of the workshop was also to show the results of the High Mountain Sampling task of the Horizon Europe project ‘Biodiversity Genomics Europe’ (T4.4) completed in TNP in 2023, the insects collected in TNP served as a training material.
At the end of the event, a panel session was held to discuss future plans for implementing molecular methods in Poland’s national parks. The discussion focused on how these methods could help to improve the diagnosis of biodiversity, enable reliable monitoring of changes, identify potential threats, and promote the dissemination of this knowledge.
Snapshot of the “Biodiversity genomics: Prospects for national parks in Poland” citizen science event. Photo by: BGE
Goals
- Presenting new directions in the study of biodiversity in protected areas, using DNA (meta)barcoding;
- Discussing the perspectives that these methods offer for documenting and monitoring biodiversity and the development of scientific research in Polish national parks.
Content
Agenda 13-11-2024 (Day 1)
09.00 Lectures: ‘The third decade of (meta)DNA barcoding: from concept to practice – (meta)DNA barcoding in protected area biodiversity research’ and ‘(meta)DNA barcoding field studies: before, during and after…’
12.00 Lunch
13.30 Practical part: submitting specimen data in BOLD, specimen preparation for DNA isolation, preparation of PCR
Agenda 14-11-2024 (Day 2)
09.00 Practical part: preparation of libraries for sequencing (cleaning of PCR products with magnetic beads and sample pooling), quality control, third-generation sequencing using nanopores (MinION ONT)
12.00 Lunch
13.30 ONT results, summary
14.30 Panel session
Feedback summary
The workshop was highly successful, with participants actively engaging in every step of the process. They became familiar with laboratory procedures and were pleased with the results, which included a comprehensive list of insect species inhabiting TNP, some of which were rare or yet unnamed. This example of species identification through barcoding provided great basics for future collaboration and the implementation of DNA-based methods for biodiversity monitoring in protected areas.
Header: Snapshot of the “Biodiversity genomics: Prospects for national parks in Poland” citizen science event. Images by: BGE
