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DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.date.accessioned | 2024-04-26T05:50:23Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2024-04-26T05:50:23Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2023 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | Cassar, L. (2023). DNA barcoding and phylogenetics of marine molluscs in Maltese waters (Bachelor’s dissertation). | en_GB |
dc.identifier.uri | https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/121389 | - |
dc.description | B.Sc. (Hons)(Melit.) | en_GB |
dc.description.abstract | The Phylum Mollusca is the second largest phylum with regards to extant species in the kingdom Animalia. Molluscs boast a very high species diversity, being divided into several major taxonomic groups, the most important of which for this study being the classes Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Polyplacophora and Cephalopoda. Marine molluscs are known to have a high level of importance due to their applications in ecosystems, commercial products, ecological/eco-toxicological research, and biomedical research, despite this they are still faced with threats, including habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change and disease. To formulate effective conservation strategies to counteract these threats, species must first be properly identified to be monitored within specific localities. Although morphological identification is an important tool for this, phenotypic plasticity and subjectivity tend to lead to misidentifications, hence the need for a complementary approach, DNA barcoding. DNA barcoding using the cytochrome c oxidase subunit one gene was used to identify marine mollusc species in Maltese waters, successfully identifying 76 out of 119 specimens. In addition to this, phylogenetic analysis was used to check the evolutionary relationships between analysed specimens. This study shows that DNA barcoding is an effective method of identifying Maltese marine molluscs of the relevant four classes when paired with morphological identification, as it bypasses issues such as phenotypic plasticity, damaged specimens, cryptic species complexes and different life stages and could identify species relevant to conservation including invasive and vulnerable species. Future studies should utilise other primers and DNA markers and to test their effectiveness on marine molluscs. Sampling should also be done in more localities to assess Maltese marine mollusc biodiversity more effectively. | en_GB |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess | en_GB |
dc.subject | Mollusks -- Malta | en_GB |
dc.subject | Gastropoda -- Malta | en_GB |
dc.subject | Bivalves -- Malta | en_GB |
dc.subject | Cephalopoda -- Malta | en_GB |
dc.subject | Chitons -- Malta | en_GB |
dc.subject | DNA -- Analysis | en_GB |
dc.subject | Aquatic biodiversity -- Malta | en_GB |
dc.title | DNA barcoding and phylogenetics of marine molluscs in Maltese waters | en_GB |
dc.type | bachelorThesis | en_GB |
dc.rights.holder | The copyright of this work belongs to the author(s)/publisher. The rights of this work are as defined by the appropriate Copyright Legislation or as modified by any successive legislation. Users may access this work and can make use of the information contained in accordance with the Copyright Legislation provided that the author must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the prior permission of the copyright holder. | en_GB |
dc.publisher.institution | University of Malta | en_GB |
dc.publisher.department | Faculty of Science. Department of Biology | en_GB |
dc.description.reviewed | N/A | en_GB |
dc.contributor.creator | Cassar, Luke (2023) | - |
Appears in Collections: | Dissertations - FacSci - 2023 Dissertations - FacSciBio - 2023 |
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