Plant-derived environmental DNA reveals fine-scaled community differentiation in grassland arthropods.

ABSTRACT: The loss of plant diversity in grasslands is implicated as one of the main causes of arthropod decline. The loss of a single plant species can have a cascading effect on specialized arthropod species. It is thus critical to expand our understanding of plant-arthropod interactions. Detecting plant-arthropod interactions, however, has been difficult, as it requires the observation of individual plant visits. A possible solution to this problem is offered by environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis. Here, we test the utility of eDNA to detect fine-scaled community differentiation in grassland arthropods in Germany. Based on eDNA from 13 plant species, we explore community differentiation between plant species, and between flower and green parts of individual plants. We show that eDNA successfully re

SUBMITTER: Mahla L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12716967 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature