Next Generation Systematics

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

The growing power of DNA sequencing technology is transforming biological sciences. Systematics, the science of describing biological diversity and its origins, is no exception. This volume explores the impact next generation sequencing (NGS) is having and will continue to have on systematics and related fields through reviews, forward-looking perspectives and case studies.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.