We present the first national DNA barcode resource that covers the native flowering plants and conifers for the nation of Wales (1143 species). Using the plant DNA barcode markers rbcL and matK, we have assembled 97.7% coverage for rbcL, 90.2% for matK, and a dual-locus barcode for 89.7% of the native Welsh flora. We have sampled multiple individuals for each species, resulting in 3304 rbcL and 2419 matK sequences. The majority of our samples (85%) are from DNA extracted from herbarium specimens. Recoverability of DNA barcodes is lower using herbarium specimens, compared to freshly collected material, mostly due to lower amplification success, but this is balanced by the increased efficiency of sampling species that have already been collected, identified, and verified by taxonomic experts. The effectiveness of the DNA barcodes for identification (level of discrimination) is assessed using four approaches: the presence of a barcode gap (using pairwise and multiple alignments), formation of monophyletic groups using Neighbour-Joining trees, and sequence similarity in BLASTn searches. These approaches yield similar results, providing relative discrimination levels of 69.4 to 74.9% of all species and 98.6 to 99.8% of genera using both markers. Species discrimination can be further improved using spatially explicit sampling. Mean species discrimination using barcode gap analysis (with a multiple alignment) is 81.6% within 10×10 km squares and 93.3% for 2×2 km squares. Our database of DNA barcodes for Welsh native flowering plants and conifers represents the most complete coverage of any national flora, and offers a valuable platform for a wide range of applications that require accurate species identification.

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The identification of plant species is vitally important for the monitoring, conservation and utilisation of biodiversity but is limited by the availability of taxonomic expertise. DNA barcoding, the method of characterising species using one or a few standardised regions of DNA (Hebert et al., 2003), has been used to both characterise existing biodiversity and identify new or cryptic species. Species identification is possible even where morphological identification was previously limited, as in juvenile, sterile, mixed or degraded plant material (Hollingsworth et al., 2016).

A wastewater environment can be particularly toxic to eukaryotic microalgae. Microalgae can adapt to these conditions but the specific mechanisms that allow strains to tolerate wastewater environments are unclear. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the ability to acclimate microalgae to tolerate wastewater is an innate or species-specific characteristic. Six different species of microalgae (Chlamydomonas debaryana, Chlorella luteoviridis, Chlorella vulgaris, Desmodesmus intermedius, Hindakia tetrachotoma and Parachlorella kessleri) that had never previously been exposed to wastewater conditions were acclimated over an 8-week period in secondary-treated municipal wastewater. With the exception of C. debaryana, acclimation to wastewater resulted in significantly higher growth rate and biomass productivity. With the exception of C. vulgaris, total chlorophyll content was significantly increased in all acclimated strains, while all acclimated strains showed significantly increased photosynthetic activity. The ability of strains to acclimate was species-specific, with two species, C. luteoviridis and P. kessleri, able to acclimate more efficiently to the stress than C. debaryana and D. intermedius. Metabolic fingerprinting of the acclimated and non-acclimated microalgae using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was able to differentiate strains on the basis of metabolic responses to the stress. In particular, strains exhibiting greater stress response and altered accumulation of lipids and carbohydrates could be distinguished. The acclimation to wastewater tolerance was correlated with higher accumulation of carotenoid pigments and increased ascorbate peroxidase activity.

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