Fine-tuning biodiversity assessments: A framework to pair eDNA metabarcoding and morphological approaches
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Fine-tuning biodiversity assessments : A framework to pair eDNA metabarcoding and morphological approaches. / Pereira, Cátia Lúcio; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Araújo, Miguel Bastos; Matias, Miguel Graça.
In: Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 12, No. 12, 2021, p. 2397-2409.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Fine-tuning biodiversity assessments
T2 - A framework to pair eDNA metabarcoding and morphological approaches
AU - Pereira, Cátia Lúcio
AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
AU - Araújo, Miguel Bastos
AU - Matias, Miguel Graça
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Accurate quantification of biodiversity can be demanding and expensive. Although environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding can facilitate biodiversity assessments through non-invasive, cost-efficient and rapid surveys, the approach struggles to outperform traditional morphological approaches in providing reliable quantitative estimates for surveyed species (e.g. abundance and biomass). We present an integrated methodology for improving biodiversity surveys that pairs eDNA metabarcoding with morphological data, following a series of taxonomic and geographical filters. We demonstrate its power by applying it to a new spatiotemporal dataset generated on an Iberian-wide distributed aquatic mesocosm infrastructure that spans a wide biogeographical gradient. By building upon the strengths that these two approaches offer, our framework improved taxonomic resolution for 30% of the taxa and enabled species’ traits (e.g. body size) and abundance to be assigned to 85% of the taxa in hybrid datasets. These results indicate that eDNA-based assessments can complement, but not always replace, conventional approaches. Integrating conventional and modern eDNA metabarcoding approaches, already available in the ecologist's toolbox, will greatly enhance biodiversity assessments.
AB - Accurate quantification of biodiversity can be demanding and expensive. Although environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding can facilitate biodiversity assessments through non-invasive, cost-efficient and rapid surveys, the approach struggles to outperform traditional morphological approaches in providing reliable quantitative estimates for surveyed species (e.g. abundance and biomass). We present an integrated methodology for improving biodiversity surveys that pairs eDNA metabarcoding with morphological data, following a series of taxonomic and geographical filters. We demonstrate its power by applying it to a new spatiotemporal dataset generated on an Iberian-wide distributed aquatic mesocosm infrastructure that spans a wide biogeographical gradient. By building upon the strengths that these two approaches offer, our framework improved taxonomic resolution for 30% of the taxa and enabled species’ traits (e.g. body size) and abundance to be assigned to 85% of the taxa in hybrid datasets. These results indicate that eDNA-based assessments can complement, but not always replace, conventional approaches. Integrating conventional and modern eDNA metabarcoding approaches, already available in the ecologist's toolbox, will greatly enhance biodiversity assessments.
KW - biodiversity
KW - environmental DNA
KW - metabarcoding
KW - morphological approaches
U2 - 10.1111/2041-210X.13718
DO - 10.1111/2041-210X.13718
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85117051055
VL - 12
SP - 2397
EP - 2409
JO - Methods in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Methods in Ecology and Evolution
SN - 2041-210X
IS - 12
ER -
ID: 282938526