Testing the Influence of Incomplete DNA Barcode Libraries on Ecological Status Assessment of Mediterranean Transitional Waters.

ABSTRACT: The ecological assessment of European aquatic ecosystems is regulated under the framework directives on strategy for water and marine environments. Benthic macroinvertebrates are the most used biological quality element for ecological assessment of rivers, coastal-marines, and transitional waters. The morphological identification of benthic macroinvertebrates is the current tool for their assessment. Recently, DNA-based tools have been proposed as effective alternatives. The main current limits of DNA-based applications include the incompleteness of species recorded in the DNA barcode reference libraries and the primers bias. Here, we analysed the influence of the incompleteness of DNA barcode databases on species diversity indices, ecological indicators, and ecological assessment in trans

SUBMITTER: Pinna M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8614736 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature