Beyond DNA barcodes: an open-source workflow for recovering and organizing barcoded vouchers for ecological and evolutionary research

Most species remain undiscovered, and DNA barcoding can accelerate discovery but often fails to efficiently connect barcodes to physical voucher specimens needed for deeper biological analyses. This workflow provides a structured, open-source solution to recover and organize vouchers into putative species, enabling researchers to link genetic data with traits, images, ecological information, and even genome-scale data. By reducing the post-barcoding bottleneck, the tool helps unlock the full potential of specimen-level barcoding for ecological and evolutionary studies. The authors emphasize that while barcoding excels at discovery, this workflow fills a critical gap in the research pipeline, making it easier to build comprehensive, voucher-linked datasets.