Health threats, economic losses and ecological devastation can all strike a country when invasive species of plants and animals enter from abroad. That’s especially worrisome for developing countries lacking resources or scientific background to identify those species, let alone curb their spread.

Helping developing nations counter threats from invasive alien species was the goal of a four-week training program in DNA barcoding held at the University of Guelph this summer. The program was followed by this week’s International Barcode of Life conference at U of G, which has attracted some 600 delegates from almost 60 countries to campus.

Representatives from Belarus, Bhutan, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Namibia and Nepal visited U of G’s Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) to learn scientific techniques to “help them master DNA barcoding and how to set it up” at home, said Alex Borisenko, director of international development at BIO.

The laboratory training course, funded by the Government of Japan and the Japan Biodiversity Fund, was intended to help countries use made-in-Guelph genetic methods to better detect and monitor invasive alien species.

Curbing the spread of alien plants and animals is a key goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity signed in 1992 by 150 countries, including Canada.