TreeBOL Africa

Michelle van der Bank, Olivier Maurin, Adeniyi Jayeola

Objectives of TreeBOL

• To advance plant DNA barcoding • To learn and teach about plant DNA barcoding • To provide leadership in the arena of plant DNA barcoding • To help fulfill the goal of having + 500 000 organisms barcoded • To complete a database of DNA barcodes for the world’s 100 000 species of trees

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF TreeBOL GLOBAL ADMINISTRATION OF TreeBOL K. Cameron; D. Little; J. Miller NORTH AMERICA K. Cameron S. Graham MESO AMERICA G. Salazar SOUTH AMERICA C. Van den Berg S. Madrinan EUROPE J. Caujapé-Castells F. Forest TEMPERATE NORTH ASIA K.J. Kim G.E. Xuejun AFRICA M. van der Bank O. Maurin INDIA T. Husain R. Tuli TROPICAL SOUTHEAST ASIA L.B. Chaudhary J. Richardson R. Chung L.G. Saw AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND A. Lowe D. Crayn B. Summerell

African side of Tree-BOL, plans and goals:

• A kick-off workshop (October 2008) – identify the key species/species groups to be targeted – Identification of the need of collaborators – Setting up target • Website ( www.uj.ac.za/botany select tree-BOL Africa) • Compiling a list of southern Africa trees (September 2008) • Compiling a checklist of African trees (January 2009) • Setting up collaboration (SAf & all Africa) • Collection/Barcoding of the estimated 1 700 trees native to southern Africa (November 2009) • Collection/Barcoding of the estimated 1 000 trees occurring in the CTFS–PLOTS in Africa (January 2010).

• Collection/Barcoding of 10-15% of African trees (March 2010)

University of Johannesburg Workshop 9-10 of October 2008

The workshop

• Plant Barcoding & Tree-BOL introduction • Each invited speaker presented its flora, target group of interest.

• Setting up the need of each country, institution • How UJ could provide help and support to the projects collaborators

Workshop output

• Setting up regional groups (southern, eastern, western Africa). BOLD structure • Traded trees, Medicinal plants, taxonomical groups, region potentially rich • Fund application in each country/group • Kick-off with support from UJ ( silica gel,

taq,

training) • Feedback after 6 months from each institution, groups, and countries

Our plans after the first workshop

• Annual workshop, • Barcoding training week • Grant writing training (NRF, RS), proposal sharing to help with grant applications • Student training at UJ through specific projects • Advice through website on barcoding (plant collection, extraction, sequencing, submission to BOLD) • Advice on setting up DNA banking • Information sharing (protocols)

DNA barcoding of plant

• Need to be setup with Guelph, BOLD – Seqeuencing and BOLD setup • No standard protocols available for plant since barcode just agreed on.

• Ongoing test between Guelph and UJ on Trees and Shrubs of the Kruger National Park • Participating institutions might not need sequencing facility, since all barcoding process could be perform at Guelph)

The project so far:

• Report to New York after 6 months: – Webpage setup (to improve and update) – Grant proposal UJ, application to setup a center of excellence devoted to barcoding – Workshop and collaboration setup – Material ready to be barcoded (800 species) – Grant proposal workshop in planning – Molecular technical training (association with FishBOL) in planning

TreeBOL –Africa website

• Project presentation • Information to collectors – Lists, – Standard of the data for easy merging – Protocols • News • Press release • Contacts details of associates and collaborators

TreeBOL –Africa website

TreeBOL –Africa website

• Project presentation • Information to collectors – Lists, – Standard of the data for easy merging – Protocols • News • Press release • Contacts details of associates and collaborators

TreeBOL Africa website

• Project presentation • Information to collectors – Lists, – Standard of the data for easy merging – Protocols • News • Press release • Contacts details of associates and collaborators

Call for participation

• Contact for TreeBOL Africa in Johannesburg – (Michelle van der Bank, Olivier Maurin) • Contact southern Africa – (Robert Archer, Meg Coates Palgrave, Barbara Curtis) • Contact west Africa – (Adeniyi Jayeola , Toyin Ogundipe, Kowiyou Yessoufou) • Contact east Africa – (Yalem Mekonnen, Geoffrey Mwachala ) • Contact Indian Ocean – (Yasmina Jaufeerally-Fakim )