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RETRACTED ARTICLE: Molecular taxonomic tools provide more accurate estimates of species richness at less cost than traditional morphology-based taxonomic practices in a vegetation survey

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This article was retracted on 27 October 2021

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Abstract

Vegetation surveys are conducted to obtain a catalogue of the plant species that occupy an area of interest, and are used to inform the decisions of policymakers about conservation, development, and remediation efforts. Currently, vegetation surveys rely on traditional morphology-based taxonomic practices to identify collected specimens. By implementing recent advances in molecular taxonomy, it may be possible to improve upon these methods and reduce the associated costs. In this study, we used both morphological and molecular taxonomic methods to sample 337 forest vegetation plots in northeastern Ontario, Canada. DNA barcoding—a molecular taxonomic tool—was used to identify specimens collected in the molecular taxonomic survey. The molecular taxonomic survey identified a mean of 12.4 species per plot and 202 species in total, whereas the morphological taxonomic survey identified a mean of 9.8 species per plot and 142 species in total; both surveys provided identical estimates of community similarity. The morphological taxonomic survey was 37 % more expensive than molecular taxonomic survey, owing largely to the increased time required in the field to collect specimens that flowered at different times. Our results indicate that molecular taxonomic tools are more cost-effective than traditional morphology-based taxonomic practices for species identification in vegetation surveys. Taxonomy underpins all conservation, and the implementation of molecular taxonomic tools for vegetation surveys has promise to lessen the consequences of the taxonomic impediment and increase the effectiveness of conservation efforts.

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Change history

  • 08 September 2021

    Editor’s Note: Readers are alerted that the reliability of data presented in this manuscript is currently in question. Appropriate editorial action will be taken once this matter is resolved.

  • 27 October 2021

    This article has been retracted. Please see the Retraction Notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02316-2

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank W. Bell and the Ontario Forest Research Institute for assistance with fieldwork, N. Webster for assistance with morphology-based specimen identification, and S. Ragupathy for assistance with DNA barcoding. SGN was supported with Grants from NSERC CRD, OMNR, Forest Ecosystem Co-op, and the Forest Research Partnership.

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  1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Ken A. Thompson & Steven G. Newmaster

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  1. Ken A. Thompson
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  2. Steven G. Newmaster
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Correspondence to Ken A. Thompson.

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Communicated by Dirk Sven Schmeller.

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Thompson, K.A., Newmaster, S.G. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Molecular taxonomic tools provide more accurate estimates of species richness at less cost than traditional morphology-based taxonomic practices in a vegetation survey. Biodivers Conserv 23, 1411–1424 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0672-z

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