Generating Plant DNA Barcodes for Trees in Long-Term Forest Dynamics Plots

Long-term forest dynamics plots, such as those maintained and coordinated by the Center for Tropical Forest Science and Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatories (CTFS/SIGEO), are a rich source of biological data that describe the demographics, ecology, and evolution of pristine and disturbed forest habitats across ecosystems. As molecular techniques for plant systematic and ecological studies, including DNA barcodes, have improved so have the methods for collecting tissue samples, generating DNA sequences, and managing genetic data. Tissue samples can be processed at the point of collection and stored in silica gel for extended periods of time or samples can be taken from historical museum collections with sufficient DNA yields for study. In this chapter, we provide a workflow that includes the tracking of data from field collection of tissue samples to the DNA barcode sequence laboratory to final analyses for forensic and phylogenetic investigations.