In situ and Ex situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees - ITTO

472Box 4ATBI (All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory) as a model for ecosystem-basedbiodiversity inventory.The previous studies in microbial biodiversity have been limited to the clinicalarea (pathogens) or other groups proven to be of benefit either in agro-forestry,industry or medicine. Therefore, world culture collections and information arerestricted to the microorganisms devoted to those purposes. As the result,appropriate attention to the microorganism groups that are currently unknownor of potential benefit is negligible.The model for comprehensive biological aspect inventory in a particularecosystem was initiated at Pennsylvania University, giving the first habitatthat covered 50,000 ha of undisturbed ecosystem in the tropics, named asATBI (All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory) (Janzen & Hallwachs cit. Tiedje 1995).Since the infancy of such activities, there were several significantconsiderations to make this challenging project feasible. First, a comprehensiveapproach should be practiced to examine the biodiversity groups that arecurrently ignored, not only opportunities to recognise novel species, buteven novel genera or family levels. Second, as there are many opportunitiesfor novel symbiotic organisms invention, a proper sampling strategy thatinvolves diverse groups of hosts should be proposed. Third, it should beborne in mind that a definition of a niche or habitat that might be ‘rich’ indiversity in order to define sampling strategy efficiently. Moreover, theconsequences of massive data produced should be also anticipated byproviding database systems that are well structured, easily accessed, andglobal network-compatible.Table 3. General scheme for total diversity characterisation at ATBI projectHabitat Approach RemoveredundancyCoarsecharacterisationFinecharacterisationSoil, plant,Culture(specialist)REP-PCR FAME Group specificmethodsinsect, animal,sediment, waterTotal DNAextractmicroscopyHybridsubstractionImagecomparisonrRNA familyMorphologicalgroup16/18s rRNAsequenceSpecific charactersof taxa