The Norwegian Barcode of Life Network (NorBOL)

Background: NorBOL (www.norbol.org) was formed in 2007 as a national network to (i) advance barcoding of Norwegian and Arctic biodiversity, (ii) raise funding, (iii) curate barcode reference material, (iv) coordinate and initiate new barcoding projects, and (v) increase public awareness of DNA barcoding and barcoding results in Norway. NorBOL is a regional node within iBOL, with a particular responsibility for Polar Regions. NorBOL is coordinated by the NTNU University Museum in Trondheim and connects 16 institutions, including all four major natural history museums as well as all major research institutes in Norway. Results: Despite strong support among research institutions, substantial external funding was only first achieved in 2012 through a grant from the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre. Further funding was obtained in 2014 from both the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre. Since then, barcoding progress of the Norwegian fauna, flora, and fungi has increased, and the Barcode of Life Data Systems database currently holds more than 42 000 published sequence records (27 000 DNA barcodes) of more than 7200 species from Norway. Significance: The goal for NorBOL is to barcode 20 000 species by the end of 2018. NorBOL currently targets barcoding of museum collections, lichens, fungi, marine invertebrates, fish, and material from biosurveillance projects supported by the Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative. We collaborate with Swedish institutions on sampling of marine invertebrates, earthworms, and insects. An expansion of inter-Scandinavian barcoding collaboration is in progress. As the standard barcode gene regions have limited taxonomic resolution for the species level in many vascular plant groups, we are engaged in testing if low-coverage shotgun sequencing of herbarium material is useful to obtain the full plant plastid genomes.