Using DNA barcoding data to differentiate potentially invasive species and natural range expansion of terrestrial arthropod taxa in Nunavut

Abstract

The analysis of DNA barcoding data to determine whether species are endemic, or non-endemic to specific regions in Southern Canada is difficult, but the existence of differences in summer and winter temperatures in the Canadian Arctic represent possible opportunities in methods of analysis that have not yet been undertaken. Species present in the Arctic are largely unique, but as climate change progresses the differences in climate that exist between Southern Canada and the Canadian Subarctic, and the Canadian Arctic are shrinking. As that change occurs, the detection of overlapping species range extents is likely possible using geospatial analysis and DNA barcodes.