Barcoding Nature: Shifting Cultures of Taxonomy in an Age of Biodiversity Loss

DNA Barcoding has been promoted since 2003 as a new, fast, digital genomics-based means of identifying natural species based on the idea that a small standard fragment of any organism’s genome (a so-called ‘micro-genome’) can faithfully identify and help to classify every species on the planet. The fear that species are becoming extinct before they have ever been known fuels barcoders, and the speed, scope, economy and ‘user-friendliness’ claimed for DNA barcoding, as part of the larger fer...