Abstract
In a world of declining biodiversity, monitoring is becoming crucial. Molecular methods, such as metabarcoding, have the potential to rapidly expand our knowledge of biodiversity, supporting assessment, management, and conservation. In the marine environment, where hard substrata are more difficult to access than soft bottoms for quantitative ecological studies, Artificial Substrate Units (ASUs) allow for standardized sampling. We deployed ASUs within five regional seas (Baltic Sea, Northeast Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and Red Sea) for 12–26 months to measure the diversity and community composition of macroinvertebrates. We identified invertebrates using a traditional approach based on morphological characters, and by metabarcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene. We compared community composition and diversity metrics obtained using the two methods. Diversity was significantly correlated between data types. Metabarcoding of ASUs allowed for robust comparisons of community composition and diversity, but not all groups were successfully sequenced. All locations were significantly different in taxonomic composition as measured with both kinds of data. We recovered previously known regional biogeographical patterns in both datasets (e.g., low species diversity in the Black and Baltic Seas, affinity between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean). We conclude that the two approaches provide complementary information and that metabarcoding shows great promise for marine monitoring. However, until its pitfalls are addressed, the use of metabarcoding in monitoring of rocky benthic assemblages should be used in addition to classical approaches rather than instead of them.
Highlights
To effectively conserve biodiversity at all levels of biological organization, the first crucial step is monitoring and assessment (Patrício et al, 2016)
Artificial Substrate Units (ASUs) were composed of four nylon pan scourers fastened together, attached to a stainless-steel rod using a cable tie, and affixed to the substratum
Metabarcoding of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) by Leray and Knowlton (2015) using the same primers as this study found few molluscs relative to annelids and arthropods, but their molecular results were not directly
Summary
To effectively conserve biodiversity at all levels of biological organization, the first crucial step is monitoring and assessment (Patrício et al, 2016). Longitude 21°2.518 E 21°1.598 E 06°19.345 W 2°30.258 W 1°55.638 W 2°13.641 W 5°32.740 E 5°14.210 E 5°23.420 E 13°37.699 E 13°31.691 E. barcoding (Lorenz, Jackson, Beck, & Hanner, 2005), has a large reference database, is highly variable between species, and has been already used in previous studies to assess benthic metazoan biodiversity (e.g., Leray & Knowlton, 2015). Barcoding (Lorenz, Jackson, Beck, & Hanner, 2005), has a large reference database, is highly variable between species, and has been already used in previous studies to assess benthic metazoan biodiversity (e.g., Leray & Knowlton, 2015) Both methods (morphological and molecular) were used to measure taxonomic richness and diversity and community composition with the hope of making recommendations for future monitoring programs. Our sampling design allowed us to evaluate the effectiveness of the two methods in distinguishing biogeographic patterns among regions and whether or not these methods are viable in a wide range of seas
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