Identification of potential insect ecological interactions using a metabarcoding approach.

ABSTRACT: Species interactions are challenging to quantify, particularly when they happen cryptically. Molecular methods have become a key tool to uncover these interactions when they leave behind a DNA trace from the interacting organism (e.g., pollen on a bee) or when the taxa are still present but morphologically challenging to identify (e.g., microbial or fungal interactions). The decreasing costs of sequencing makes the mass analysis of thousands of target species possible. However, the challenge has shifted to selecting molecular markers which maximize information recovery while analyzing these data at broad biological scales. In this manuscript we use model arthropod groups to compare molecular markers and their analysis across life stages. We develop protocols for two ecologica

SUBMITTER: Borsato ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11841592 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature