Abstract
Arthropod communities in buildings have not been extensively studied, although humans have always shared their homes with them. In this study we explored if arthropod DNA can be retrieved and metabarcoded from indoor environments through the collection of dead specimens in light fixtures to better understand what shapes arthropod diversity in our homes. Insects were collected from 45 light fixtures at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG, Guelph, Canada), and by community scientists at 12 different residential homes in Southern Ontario. The CBG ground floor of the CBG showed the greatest arthropod diversity, especially in light fixtures that were continuously illuminated. The community scientist samples varied strongly by light fixture type, lightbulb used, time passed since lamp was last cleaned, and specimen size. In all cases, the majority of OTUs was not shared between samples even within the same building. This study demonstrates that light fixtures might be a useful resource to determine arthropod diversity in our homes, but individual samples are likely not representative of the full diversity.
Highlights
Humans have always been sharing their living spaces with a large variety of organisms ranging from microbes to vertebrates
The detection of Clitellata might stem from gut content of scavenging arthropods or low levels of laboratory cross contamination
We were able to show that light fixtures in buildings can act as passive terrestrial arthropod traps over longer periods of time
Summary
Humans have always been sharing their living spaces with a large variety of organisms ranging from microbes to vertebrates. Arthropods, as the most diverse group of animals (Mora et al, 2011), are a key component of this biodiversity at our homes (Sattler et al, 2011), and even in seemingly unhospitable environments such as modern urban settlements some of them thrive and even continue to provide a number of ecosystem services (Prather et al, 2013) It is poorly understood how arthropod diversity is influenced by increased urbanization (Mata et al, 2017) or by the drastic alterations of ecosystems that are currently fragmenting populations and putting natural habitats at risk (Steffen et al, 2015). Some can damage food, clothing, or building structure, thereby indirectly affecting human well-being (Bertone et al, 2016). In order to mitigate any potential detrimental effects and to better manage risks posed
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