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Authors

McElroy, M. E., T. L. Dressler, G. C. Titcomb, E. A. Wilson, K. Deiner, T. L. Dudley, E. J. Eliason, N. T. Evans, S. D. Gaines, K. D. Lafferty, G. A. Lamberti, Y. Li, D. M. Lodge, M. S. Love, A. R. Mahon, M. E. Pfrender, M. A. Renshaw, K. A. Selkoe, and C. L. Jerde

Publication Date

28 August 2020

Publication Name

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Friday August 28, 2020

The authors synthesized 37 studies in natural aquatic systems to compare species richness estimates for bony fish between eDNA metabarcoding and conventional methods, such as nets, visual census, and electrofishing. In freshwater systems with fewer than 100 species, they found eDNA metabarcoding detected more species than conventional methods. Using multiple genetic markers further increased species richness estimates with eDNA metabarcoding. For more diverse freshwater systems and across marine systems, eDNA metabarcoding reported similar values of species richness to conventional methods; however, more studies are needed in these environments to better evaluate relative performance. In systems with greater biodiversity, eDNA metabarcoding will require more populated reference databases, increased sampling effort, and multi-marker assays to ensure robust species richness estimates to further validate the approach.

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