About the Authors

Eeva M. Soininen

eeva.soininen@uit.no

Affiliation Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

Gilles Gauthier

Affiliation Département de Biologie & Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Frédéric Bilodeau

Affiliation Département de Biologie & Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Dominique Berteaux

Affiliation Chaire de Recherche du Canada en Biodiversité Nordique & Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Québec, Canada

Ludovic Gielly

Affiliation Université Grenoble Alpes/CNRS, Laboratoire d’Écologie Alpine (LECA), Grenoble, France

Pierre Taberlet

Affiliation Université Grenoble Alpes/CNRS, Laboratoire d’Écologie Alpine (LECA), Grenoble, France

Galina Gussarova

Affiliations Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Department of Botany, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russia

Eva Bellemain

Affiliations Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, SPYGEN, Savoie Technolac, Le Bourget du Lac, France

Kristian Hassel

Affiliation NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Hans K. Stenøien

Affiliation NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Laura Epp

Affiliation Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Audun Schrøder-Nielsen

Affiliation Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Christian Brochmann

Affiliation Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Nigel G. Yoccoz

Affiliation Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

Competing Interests

Ludovic Gielly and Pierre Taberlet are co-inventors of a patent concerning g-h primers and the subsequent use of the P6 loop of the chloroplast trnL (UAA) intron for plant identification using degraded template DNA. The patent has the following numbers: CA 2581347 (Canada Patent), 2006/040448 (PCT Patent), EP1797201 (EPO Patent), 20090081646 and 20110143354 (both United States Patent Application). These patents, titled “Universal primers and their use for detecting and identifying plant materials in complex mixtures”, only restrict commercial applications and have no impact on the use of this locus by academic researchers. Eva Bellemain is employed by SPYGEN. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: EMS G. Gauthier FB DB NGY LG PT. Performed the experiments: EMS FB LG PT. Analyzed the data: EMS G. Gauthier NGY. Wrote the paper: EMS G. Gauthier FB DB NGY LG PT G. Gussarova EB. Created the reference library for bryophytes: G. Gussarova EB CB KH HKS LE ASN.