Project leader: JBCVCSIC (PI: Juli Caujapé Castells)
Stakeholders: Jardín de Aclimatación de La Orotava, Universidad de La Laguna, Universidad de Murcia
Funding agency: Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente
Time span: 2007-2009

Summary: Up to now, morphological variables have been the only valid tool to establish Operative Taxonomic Units (OTU) in most plant lineages. Nevertheless, this variation is difficult to handle statistically because it is attributable to the action of many different genes whose inheritance and exact contribution to the phenotype are unknown. Furthermore, environmentally induced variation can be easily mistaken for heritable (i. e., systematically meaningful) variation, and this frequently undermines the taxonomic value of morphological traits. When morphology does not provide diagnostic characters, the taxonomist’s subjectivity preys on classification, thereby begetting controversies that hinder the identification of OTUs. In this project, we complement the morphological approach of classical taxonomy with molecular barcodes based on DNA sequences for angiosperms and bryophytes to assess the usefulness of Molecular Operative Taxonomic Units (MOTU) and their range of variation in a representative sample of Garajonay’s National Park flora. As a main result of this project of research, we expect (i) to help characterise more precisely the angiosperms and bryophytes in Garajonay and (ii) to develop a general methodology for the better delimitation of conservation units that might set the stage for a future molecular barcode of Garajonay’s Flora and, in the longer term, of the Canarian archipelago.