Revealing higher than expected meiofaunal diversity in Antarctic sediments: a metabarcoding approach.

ABSTRACT: An increasing number of studies are showing that Antarctic mega- and macrofauna are highly diverse, however, little is known about meiofaunal biodiversity in sediment communities, which are a vital part of a healthy and functional ecosystem. This is the first study to analyse community DNA (targeting meiofauna) using metabarcoding to investigate biodiversity levels in sediment communities of the Antarctic Peninsula. The results show that almost all of the meiofaunal biodiversity in the benthic habitat has yet to be characterised, levels of biodiversity were higher than expected and similar to temperate regions, albeit with the existence of potentially new and locally adapted species never described before at the molecular level. The Rothera meiofaunal sample sites showed four dominant euka

SUBMITTER: Fonseca VG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5522477 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature