Inferring Species Interactions From Co-occurrence Networks With Environmental DNA Metabarcoding Data in a Coastal Marine Food Web.

ABSTRACT: A good understanding of biotic interactions is necessary to accurately predict the vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change. Recently, co-occurrence networks built from environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding data have arisen as a tool to explore interspecific interactions in ecological communities exposed to different human and environmental pressures. Such networks can identify environmentally driven relationships in microbial and eukaryotic communities, but whether inferred co-occurrences robustly represent biotic interactions remains unclear. Here, we tackle this challenge and compare spatio-temporal variability in the structure and complexity of inferred co-occurrence networks and food webs, using 60 eDNA samples covering vertebrates and other eukaryotes in a North Sea coastal eco

SUBMITTER: Boyse E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11934085 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature