In a dry coastal forest in north-central Chile, fences built decades ago still shape who lives and dies in the circle of life.

Inside some plots, small mammals—rodents like degus—move freely as they are pursued by hawks, owls, and foxes. In others, both prey and their predators are kept out. Over time, those differences have cascaded throughout the ecosystem, reshaping plant communities, altering food webs, and changing how organisms respond to climatic variability.

For more than 35 years, researchers have returned to these experimental plots at Fray Jorge. It has been maintained as one of the longest-running ecological experiments in the world. Now, with renewed support from the US National Science Foundation, our most recent efforts enter their second half of a coordinated 10-year research plan. A defining feature of the work happening this decade is the incorporation of genomic technologies to understand how the ecosystem is assembled—and the consequences of its disassembly under global change.

Tyler sat down for an interview with Abhishyant Kidangoor of Mongabay to discuss our recent Mini Review in Molecular Ecology, entitled Global Availability of Plant DNA Barcodes as Genomic Resources to Support Basic and Policy-Relevant Biodiversity Research.

You can read our conversation here at Mongabay. It covers topics that are among the most important for ensuring the reliability of DNA-based biodiversity research, including equitable access to the benefits arising from this technology and the reputations of all who use it.

The work was also highlighted in Spanish by El Mostrador: Código de barras de plantas: herramienta genética clave que busca ser fortalecida en el sur global