Editorial - DNA Barcoding of Mammals

Abstract

The contributions in this Special Issue summarize recent mammalian advances and future research directions in DNA barcoding, a research initiative that is helping biologists document biodiversity in a timely manner. In conjunction with taxonomy, it is poised to make identification of the earth’s almost 2 million known living organisms and discovery of the estimated 30 million species yet unknown a far less daunting task. To meet the challenge of discovering and identifying so many species, resources to support this work and innovations in methodology must be stepped up before these unknown organisms, and their place in and potential benefits to the ecosystem and to humans are lost without a trace. The establishment of a global mammal DNA barcoding campaign aims to build a reference database of genetic sequences for an important vertebrate group.