Soil eDNA reflects regionally dominant species rather than local composition of tropical tree communities.

ABSTRACT: Environmental DNA (eDNA) is increasingly used for biodiversity monitoring, but validation of the spatial scale(s) at which eDNA reflects extant communities is scarce, particularly in tropical forests: the terrestrial biome with the most concentrated diversity on earth. We leveraged spatially explicit tree inventory data from the 16-ha Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP) in Puerto Rico to validate soil eDNA as a spatially explicit indicator of tree diversity/composition. Using a comprehensive local chloroplast trnL-P6 reference library, we analyzed soil samples at multiple scales through eDNA trnL-P6 metabarcoding. We compared eDNA taxonomic diversity/composition, considering several bioinformatic thresholds, with inventory data across a range of spatial scales, as well as ra

SUBMITTER: Borras Sayas F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12403143 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature