Next Generation Systematics

Cheap and plentiful genome sequence data is transforming biology, and will surely transform systematics. This volume explores how.

Peter D. Olson (Edited by), Joseph Hughes (Edited by), James A. Cotton (Edited by)

9781107028586, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 June 2016

351 pages, 40 b/w illus. 8 colour illus. 5 tables
25.3 x 19.4 x 2 cm, 0.96 kg

'… the book provides a very good overview of how the field of systematics is being shaped by the impact of a promising technology. In focusing on the major achievements and the challenges ahead it conveys a realistic vision for the future. One that has the potential to motivate many readers to embrace these approaches or to focus on solving the mentioned challenges.' Toni Gabaldón, The Quarterly Review of Biology

We live in an age of ubiquitous genomics. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology, both widely adopted and advancing at pace, has transformed the data landscape, opening up an enormous source of heritable characters to the comparative biologist. Its impact on systematics, like many other fields of biology, has been felt throughout its breadth: from defining species boundaries to estimating their evolutionary histories. This volume examines the broad range of ways in which NGS data are being used in systematics and in the fields that it underpins, from biodiversity prospecting to evo-devo. Experts in their fields draw on contemporary case studies to demonstrate state-of-the-art applications of NGS data. These, along with novel analyses, comprehensive reviews and lively perspectives, are combined to produce an authoritative account of contemporary issues in systematics that have been impacted by the adoption of NGS.

List of contributors
Introduction: studying diversity in an age of ubiquitous genomics James A. Cotton and Peter D. Olson
Part I. Next Generation Phylogenetics: 1. Perspective: challenges in assembling the 'next generation' tree of life Michael J. Sanderson
2. The role of next generation sequencing technologies in shaping the future of insect molecular systematics Joseph Hughes and Stuart Longhorn
3. Phylogenetics of Nematoda Mark Blaxter, Georgios Koutsovoulos, Martin Jones, Sujai Kumar and Ben Elsworth
4. High throughput multiplexed mitogenomics for metazoans-prospects and limitations Peter G. Foster, Maria Stalteri, Andrea Waeschenbach and D. Timothy J. Littlewood
5. Investigating bacterial microevolution through next generation sequencing Josephine M. Bryant and Simon R. Harris
Part II. Next Generation Biodiversity Science: 6. Perspective: après le déluge: ubiquitous field barcoding should drive twenty-first-century taxonomy Richard M. Bateman
7. Perspective: biodiversity and the (data) beast Holly M. Bik and W. Kelley Thomas
8. Next generation biodiversity analysis Mehrdad Hajibabaei and Ian King
9. Protist systematics, ecology and next generation sequencing David Bass and Thomas Bell
Part III. Next Generation Challenges and Questions: 10. Perspective: systematics in the age of genomics Antonis Rokas
11. Perspective: the role of next generation sequencing for integrative approaches to evolutionary biology Ralf J. Sommer
12. Next generation apomorphy: the ubiquity of taxonomically restricted genes Paul A. Nelson and Richard J. A. Buggs
13. Utilizing next generation sequencing for evo-devo study of plant traits Rachael H. Walker, Paula J. Rudall and Beverley J. Glover
14. An NGS approach to archaeobotanical museum specimens as genetic resources in systematics research Oliver Smith, Sarah A. Palmer, Rafal Gutaker and Robin G. Allaby
15. From sequence reads to evolutionary inferences James A. Cotton
Index.

Subject Areas: Biology, life sciences [PS], Mathematics & science [P]