Michael T. Monaghan

TL;DR: A modified GMYC model is developed that allows for a variable transition from coalescent to speciation among lineages and provides a method of species discovery and biodiversity assessment using single-locus data from mixed or environmental samples while building a globally available taxonomic database for future identifications.

TL;DR: A CO1 data set of aquatic predaceous diving beetles of the tribe Agabini is presented and it is shown that even if samples are collected to maximize the geographical coverage, up to 70 individuals are required to sample 95% of intraspecific variation, showing that the geographical scale of sampling has a critical impact on the global application of DNA barcoding.

TL;DR: A number of unique features of aquatic experimental systems are focused on, an expansion to the scope of diversity facets to be considered when assessing the functional consequences of changes in biodiversity are proposed and a hierarchical classification scheme of ecosystem functions and their corresponding response variables is outlined.

TL;DR: It is argued that the use of DNA methodology in taxonomy (including DNA barcoding) will remain controversial until it is better founded in existing theory of evolutionary biology and phylogenetics.

TL;DR: The results suggest that DNA-assisted taxonomy will not require more than a short fragment of mtDNA to provide a largely accurate picture of species boundaries in these groups, and that clusters of close relatives can be identified readily in the sequence variation obtained in field collected samples.