DNA barcoding in phytoplankton and other algae in marine ecosystem: An effective tool for biodiversity assessment

Abstract

Marine biodiversity is a valuable gift of nature, as the marine environment is exceptionally complicated, diverse and of utmost economic value. There is a desperate need to evaluate and protect this treasure because of its multi facet uses and its richness in species composition. Biodiversity protection particularly emphasizes on the ability of quantifying and tracking changes in the marine ecosystem. Phytoplankton and Algal biodiversity too comes under this category because of their diverse species population, vast habitat and most of them having microscopic structure. Thereby both marine phytoplankton and algae play a significant role in marine biodiversity and their taxonomic identification remain a big challenge. With all the merits and limitations of DNA barcoding and amongst the furious debate of researchers in context of its comparison with alpha taxonomic identification, DNA barcoding certainly is a promising tool of future in the field of marine species identification, biodiversity assessment and conservation.