Journal
ECOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 16, Issue 10, Pages 1245-1257Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ele.12162
Keywords
targeted monitoring; DNA barcoding; systematic conservation planning; restoration ecology; tropical forest; climate change; surveillance monitoring; heathland; Biodiversity
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Funding
- Queensland-Chinese Academy of Sciences (QCAS) Biotechnology Fund [GJHZ1130]
- Griffith University
- Princeton University
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Forestry Commission
- Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service
- Suffolk Biodiversity Partnership
- High Meadows Foundation
- Yunnan Province [20080A001]
- Chinese Academy of Sciences [0902281081, KSCX2-YW-Z-1027]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31170498]
- Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2012FY110800]
- University of East Anglia
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution at the Kunming Institute of Zoology
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Abstract To manage and conserve biodiversity, one must know what is being lost, where, and why, as well as which remedies are likely to be most effective. Metabarcoding technology can characterise the species compositions of mass samples of eukaryotes or of environmental DNA. Here, we validate metabarcoding by testing it against three high-quality standard data sets that were collected in Malaysia (tropical), China (subtropical) and the United Kingdom (temperate) and that comprised 55,813 arthropod and bird specimens identified to species level with the expenditure of 2,505 person-hours of taxonomic expertise. The metabarcode and standard data sets exhibit statistically correlated alpha- and beta-diversities, and the two data sets produce similar policy conclusions for two conservation applications: restoration ecology and systematic conservation planning. Compared with standard biodiversity data sets, metabarcoded samples are taxonomically more comprehensive, many times quicker to produce, less reliant on taxonomic expertise and auditable by third parties, which is essential for dispute resolution.
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