The New Nation - Internet Edition

RESEARCHERS of the New York Botanical Garden, best known for its orchid shows and colourful blossoms, are about to lead a global effort to capture DNA from thousands of tree species. Participants from various countries at a meeting at the Bronx garden last month laid the groundwork for how the two-year undertaking to catalogue some of the Earth's vast biodiversity would proceed. The project is known as 'TreeBOL' or tree barcode of life. As in a similar project underway focusing on the world's fish species, participants would gather genetic material from trees around the world

The resulting database will help identify many of the world's existing plant species, where they are located and whether they are endangered. The results are crucial for conservation and protecting the environment as population and development increases. 'We know so little about the natural world, when it comes down to it, even though we've been working on it for hundreds of years', the project coordinator was quoted as saying. In order for the database to be useful, the same section of DNA must be used in all the samples so comparisons can be made across species.

The undertaking is massive as trees make up 25 per cent of all plants and there could be as many as 100,000 species. Part of the work is to figure out which section to use, as well as other logistical issues among the more than 40 participating organisations across the world. What is to be viewed significantly is that the genetic database will not be completed for two years. Little anticipates making headway in some specific areas such as the flora of the northeastern US and parts of Malaysia, India and South Africa as well as endangered tree species in the meantime.