Biology subjects

Krehenwinkel, H.

Publications and source records attributed to Krehenwinkel, H..

18 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Spiders as natural DNA samplers recover arthropod community diversity and biotic interactions across space and time

Global arthropod decline demands effective biodiversity monitoring strategies. However, most current monitoring approaches do not provide an exhaustive picture of arthropod community structure. In particular, biotic interactions and temporal patterns of biodiversity change are still poorly understood. Here we explore the possibility of addressing these two shortfalls using spiders, one of the most important predators of terrestrial arthropods, as natural samplers for arthropod community DNA. We conducted several experiments comparing the recovered community composition between spider gut contents and traditional monitoring methods. Additionally, we used archived spiders from long-term collections to assess the preservation of prey DNA over time. Spiders proved to be highly efficient natural DNA samplers, with gut content metabarcoding revealing similar community composition and alpha- and beta-diversity like traditional methods. Unique arthropod taxa were detected by spider gut contents and traditional methods respectively, indicating that these two approaches can serve as valuable complements to each other. Well-preserved archived spiders effectively reconstructed historical diets up to 20 years back in time, showing that historical spider collections can act as time capsules of the wider diversity that occurred in the spider's habitat. Spiders as natural samplers overcome critical shortfalls in biodiversity monitoring and contribute to our future understanding of community assembly across space and time.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Genomic insights into Candidatus Argioplasma dusa, a bacterial symbiont of the wasp spider Argiope bruennichi

Bacterial symbionts were shown to have significant beneficial impacts on the fitness of their host in insects, but little is known on the symbionts of spiders and their interactions with their hosts. Here, we assembled and investigated the circular 575 kb genome of Candidatus Argioplasma dusa, a novel bacterial symbiont of the wasp spider Argiope bruennichi. Phylogenomic analysis placed this species within the phylum Tenericutes, in a poorly characterized clade that may represent a new order-level lineage or affiliate with the Mycoplasmatales order. With 559 predicted genes, the genome is relatively small compared to other Tenericutes genomes (on average 969 genes) and has a low GC content of ~24%. While the genome encodes genes for proteins involved in glycolysis and fermentative acetate production, it revealed minimal biosynthetic capabilities with pathways for nucleotide, amino acid and vitamin biosynthesis being absent in Ca. Argioplasma dusa. This suggests an intracellular endosymbiotic lifestyle within the spider host. The symbiont was detected in A. bruennichi populations across the distribution range of the spider but appears to be absent in certain populations.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2026

Closely related, yet phenotypically different - Genome assemblies of two sister species of widow spiders: Latrodectus hasselti and L. katipo, Theridiidae

Widow spiders of the genus Latrodectus are important animals for biomedical, pest and conservation research. Here, we present the assembled genomes of two closely related Latrodectus species: the Australian L. hasselti and the New Zealand endemic L. katipo. The genome of L. katipo consists of 13 scaffolds likely corresponding to chromosomes (90% of the total length) and 1267 short scaffolds (10%). It has a total length of 1.5 Gbp and BUSCO of 94.9%. The genome of L. hasselti consists of 379 scaffolds and has a total length of 1.7 Gbp and a BUSCO score of 95.4%. The repeat content is very similar in both genomes with a total proportion of 37.2% for L. katipo and 39.9% for L. hasselti. Genome annotation predicted 12706 and 15111 genes for L. katipo and L. hasselti respectively. An ortholog analysis shows large overlap between orthogroups suggesting either duplication events in L. hasselti or loss of genes in L. katipo.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2026

eDNA metabarcoding provides scalable and continuous biodiversity monitoring across the tree of life

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has the potential to substantially expand our knowledge of global biodiversity beyond that provided by conventional approaches. However, the degree to which eDNA data provides real ecological insight, rather than primarily reflecting environmental factors that affect eDNA shedding and degradation, remains unclear. Additional uncertainties arise in terms of cost-effectiveness and whether the price is worth any extra biodiversity information that is gleaned. Here, we established a high-resolution, bi-weekly eDNA time-series in Germany across aquatic and riparian habitats to quantify seasonal biodiversity dynamics, to relate eDNA to different potential environmental drivers, and to parametrize cost estimates. Over one year, eDNA metabarcoding detected more than 1,000 species across multiple trophic levels and primarily revealed real, taxon-specific seasonal patterns, in addition to some relationships to water temperature, discharge, and conductivity. Compared to historical records dating back to 1891, year-round eDNA monitoring increased reported species numbers by 2.4-fold for invertebrates, 2.2-fold for mammals, 1.7-fold for diatoms, 1.2-fold for fish and lamprey, and 1.03-fold for birds. Cumulative biodiversity estimates increased strongly with sampling frequency, demonstrating the value of eDNA for high-frequency time-series monitoring. Moreover, eDNA monitoring was highly cost-effective, providing more than twice the biodiversity information of many conventional surveys for one-sixth the cost, enabling scalable, high-resolution freshwater biodiversity assessments.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Comparison of environmental DNA and bulk DNA metabarcoding for assessing terrestrial arthropod diversity across three habitat types on Guam

DNA based methods offer a rapid and cost-effective way for detecting species occurrence and monitoring biodiversity; among them bulk DNA metabarcoding is well-established, and recently developed environmental DNA (eDNA)-based methods offer a non-destructive alternative. With a goal to develop suitable methods for assessing insect biodiversity in ecosystems for which DNA reference libraries are not well developed and incomplete, such as remote islands, we compared established bulk DNA metabarcoding methods with eDNA across three replicated terrestrial ecosystem types (limestone forest, degraded forest, and grassland) in Guam. Using two mitochondrial COI primer pairs, we performed bulk DNA metabarcoding of standard entomological collection methods (malaise traps, pan traps, vegetation beating), and compared the assessment of biodiversity with that from different eDNA sources (flowers, spider webs, leaves, tree trunks). In our samples, eDNA and bulk DNA metabarcoding both detected a large proportion of overall taxa (OTUs, 86.6% and 60.3%, respectively). Although DNA metabarcoding detected significantly more taxa, eDNA proved to be a reasonable non-destructive alternative. As expected, because of limitations in existing reference databases for remote habitats, species-level identification was achieved for only a few OTUs. Overall, the sampling approach was the dominant driver of arthropod diversity, explaining [~]17% of the observed variation, while habitat type accounted for [~]4%. Thus, each sampling approach captured some unique diversity signals and contributed to the complementary effect of maximizing detection. For rapid insect biodiversity surveys of terrestrial arthropods, we recommend an integrated metabarcoding approach, and in sensitive habitats where insect capture is undesirable, eDNA offers a powerful alternative to monitor diversity and community change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

A field-deployable eDNA metabarcoding workflow including de novo reference assembly for characterizing understudied biodiversity hotspots

Field-deployable DNA metabarcoding offers a transformative approach to biodiversity research and monitoring, yet its application remains limited due to technical constraints and a lack of reference data in poorly studied ecosystems. Combining isothermal Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) and Oxford Nanopore sequencing, we introduce a two-step approach that uses non-invasive species barcoding to directly generate reference sequences for use in environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding, and enable real-time, PCR-free, and cost-effective molecular assessment of ecological communities in the field. Using an endemic and understudied tropical amphibian assemblage as a model, we demonstrate the practicality and versatility of this novel workflow. De novo generation of a reference sequence library significantly improved the accuracy and taxonomic resolution of sequence assignments from eDNA samples, particularly on the species level, in turn allowing a characterization of fine-scale patterns in community composition. Beyond generating new RPA-compatible amphibian metabarcoding primers, our results show that combining field-based eDNA metabarcoding with the offline assembly of a local reference database can bridge data gaps in molecular biodiversity monitoring, providing a scalable solution for real-time biodiversity assessments in data-deficient ecosystems. This workflow paves the way for broader deployment of molecular tools in global biodiversity hotspots - particularly in remote and resource-limited tropical regions - to directly contribute critical baseline data, and support conservation efforts in regions where they are most urgently needed.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Two decades of compositional restructuring of soil biodiversity in Germany despite stable a- and b-diversity indices

Soil ecosystems host some of the most taxonomically and functionally diverse biological communities on Earth, yet long-term trends in their biodiversity remain poorly understood. Here, we analysed soil biodiversity dynamics over 20 years with samples archived in the German Environmental Specimen Bank. We assessed temporal and spatial patterns in -diversity and {beta}-diversity with shotgun metagenomics across bacteria, fungi, and metazoa. We found no statistically significant temporal trends in -diversity for any group. Total {beta}-diversity also appeared temporally stable. However, decomposing {beta}-diversity into its balanced variation and abundance gradients revealed taxon-specific compositional restructuring. Bacterial and fungal communities showed signs of compositional homogenisation, while metazoan communities remained more stable. Spatial structuring was pronounced across all groups. Land use emerged as a key spatial predictor of community composition for bacteria and fungi, and geographic locality for metazoans. Our findings show that apparent stability in standard biodiversity indices may mask significant underlying community change. This highlights the need for integrative, taxonomically inclusive approaches to biodiversity monitoring. The combination of environmental specimen banking with metagenomic sequencing offers a powerful framework for uncovering hidden biodiversity trends in soil ecosystems and identifying the drivers of ecological reorganisation under global change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Facilitating taxonomy and phylogenetics: An informative and cost-effective protocol integrating long amplicon PCRs and third-generation sequencing

Phylogenetic inference has become a standard technique in integrative taxonomy and systematics, as well as in biogeography and ecology. DNA barcodes are often used for phylogenetic inference, despite being strongly limited due to their low number of informative sites. Also, because current DNA barcodes are based on a fraction of a single, fast-evolving gene, they are highly unsuitable for resolving deeper phylogenetic relationships due to saturation. In recent years, methods that analyse hundreds and thousands of loci at once have improved the resolution of the Tree of Life, but these methods require resources, experience and molecular laboratories that most taxonomists do not have. This paper introduces a PCR-based protocol that produces long amplicons of both slow- and fast-evolving unlinked mitochondrial and nuclear gene regions, which can be sequenced by the affordable and portable ONT MinION platform with low infrastructure or funding requirements. As a proof of concept, we inferred a phylogeny of a sample of 63 spider species from 20 families using our proposed protocol. The results were overall consistent with the results from approaches based on hundreds and thousands of loci, while requiring just a fraction of the cost and labour of such approaches, making our protocol accessible to taxonomists worldwide. HighlightsO_LIDNA barcoding is an invaluable tool for fast and accurate taxonomic classification C_LIO_LIExisting DNA barcodes are still insufficient for obtaining well-supported phylogenies C_LIO_LIWe present a protocol that produces long amplicons of unlinked loci for spiders C_LIO_LIAmplicons are sequenced at very low cost per specimen with ONT MinION C_LIO_LIOur recovered phylogeny is largely consistent with that of high-cost approaches. C_LI

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Multiple paths towards repeated phenotypic evolution in the spiny-leg adaptive radiation (Tetragnatha; Hawaii)

The repeated evolution of phenotypes is ubiquitous in nature and offers some of the clearest evidence of the role of natural selection in evolution. The genomic basis of repeated phenotypic evolution is often complex and can arise from a combination of gene flow, shared ancestral polymorphism and de novo mutation. Here, we investigate the genomic basis of repeated ecomorph evolution in the adaptive radiation of the Hawaiian spiny-leg Tetragnatha. This radiation comprises four ecomorphs that are microhabitat-specialists, and differ in body pigmentation and size (Green, Large Brown, Maroon, and Small Brown). Using 76 newly generated low-coverage, whole-genome resequencing samples, coupled with population genomic and phylogenomic tools, we studied the evolutionary history of the radiation to understand the evolution of the spiny-leg lineage and the genetic underpinnings of ecomorph evolution. Congruent with previous works, we find that each ecomorph has evolved twice, with the exception of the Small Brown ecomorph, which has evolved three times. The evolution of the Maroon and the Small Brown ecomorphs likely involved ancestral hybridization events, whereas the Green and the Large Brown ecomorphs likely evolved because of either standing genetic variation or de novo mutation. Pairwise comparisons of ecomorphs based on the fixation index (FST) show that divergent genomic regions include genes with functions associated with pigmentation (melanization), learning, neuronal and synapse activity, and circadian rhythms. These results show that the repeated evolution of ecomorphs in the Hawaiian spiny-leg Tetragnatha is linked to multiple genomic regions and suggests a previously unknown role of learning and circadian rhythms in ecomorph.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Environmental DNA from archived leaves reveals widespread temporal turnover and biotic homogenization in forest arthropod communities

A major limitation of current reports on insect declines is the lack of standardized, long-term, and taxonomically broad time series. Here, we demonstrate the utility of environmental DNA from archived leaf material to characterize plant-associated arthropod communities. We base our work on several multi-decadal leaf time series from tree canopies in four land use types, which were sampled as part of a long-term environmental monitoring program across Germany. Using these highly standardized and well-preserved samples, we analyze temporal changes in communities of several thousand arthropod species belonging to 23 orders using metabarcoding and quantitative PCR. Our data do not support widespread declines of -diversity or genetic variation within sites. Instead, we find a gradual community turnover, which results in temporal and spatial biotic homogenization, across all land use types and all arthropod orders. Our results suggest that insect decline is more complex than mere -diversity loss, but can be driven by {beta}-diversity decay across space and time.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Rapid ecological and evolutionary divergence during a poleward range expansion

In response to climate change, a northward range expansion has been observed in many species. The wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi, has expanded from its historic range in the Mediterranean ("core"), now reaching as far as the Baltic States and Scandinavia ("edge"), even faster than the pace of climate change. We explored life history traits, adult phenotypes, offspring cold tolerance, and genomic patterns across the European range of A. bruennichi, and found origin-, environment- and life stage-specific responses to the cold northern climate. Wasp spiders have shifted their phenology at the edge, with females maturing earlier and at a smaller size, but maintaining similar pigmentation, clutch sizes, and hatching success compared to the core region. Using a reciprocal common garden experiment on overwintering offspring from the core and edge, we found evidence for genetic adaptation and considerable phenotypic plasticity. Overwintering survival was lower under the cold winter treatment for spiderlings from both origins. However, the edge-origin spiderlings that survived the winter had lower lethal temperatures and enhanced supercooling ability with reduced phenotypic plasticity in supercooling points compared to core spiderlings, while the chill coma recovery time was similar. Metabolomic analysis revealed accumulations of amino acids and myo-inositol in the cold winter treatment, particularly in spiderlings from the edge population, suggesting a role of these metabolites in improving cold tolerance. Genotype-environment tests showed strong genetic association across the genome to seasonality and minimum winter temperature. The population genomic analysis across the European range splits A. bruennichi into two distinct genetic clusters through the center of Germany, which roughly aligns with turnover from an oceanic to continental climate zone, complementing the genotype-environment test results. Overall, our study highlights the importance of integrating data on phenological shifts, changes in life-history, and life stage-specific phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation to understand the impacts of range expansions and shifts. The nuanced processes of acclimation and adaptation we uncovered advocate for holistic investigations of evolutionary fitness and fitness-related traits in the context of organismal responses to novel and changing environments.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Climatic niche conservatism shapes the ecological assembly of Hawaiian arthropod communities

Spatial variation in climatic conditions along elevation gradients provides an important backdrop by which communities assemble and diversify. Lowland habitats tend to be connected through time, whereas highlands can be continuously or periodically isolated, conditions that have been hypothesized to promote high levels of species endemism. This tendency is expected to be accentuated among taxa that show niche conservatism within a given climatic envelope. While species distribution modeling approaches have allowed extensive exploration of niche conservatism among target taxa, a broad understanding of the phenomenon requires sampling of entire communities. Species-rich groups such as arthropods are ideal case studies for understanding ecological and biodiversity dynamics along elevational gradients given their important functional role in many ecosystems, but community-level studies have been limited due to their tremendous diversity. Here, we develop a novel semi-quantitative metabarcoding approach that combines specimen counts and size-sorting to characterize arthropod community-level diversity patterns along two elevational gradients across two volcanoes on the island of Hawai i. We find that arthropod communities between the two transects become increasingly distinct compositionally at higher elevations. Resistance surface approaches suggest that climatic differences between sampling localities are an important driver in shaping beta-diversity patterns, though the relative importance of climate varies across taxonomic groups. Nevertheless, the climatic niche position of OTUs between transects was highly correlated, suggesting that climatic filters shape the colonization between adjacent volcanoes. Taken together, our results highlight climatic niche conservatism as an important factor shaping ecological assembly along elevational gradients and suggest topographic complexity as an important driver of diversification.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Molecular diet analysis in zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena spp.) and an assessment of the utility of aquatic filter feeders as biological eDNA filters

Molecular gut content analysis is a popular tool to study food web interactions and was recently also suggested as an alternative source for DNA based biomonitoring. However, the overabundant consumers DNA often outcompetes that of its diet during PCR. Blocking approaches are an efficient means to reduce consumer amplification while retaining broad specificity for dietary taxa. We here designed an assay to monitor the eukaryotic diet of mussels and test their utility as biological eDNA filters to monitor planktonic communities. We designed several rDNA primer sets with a broad taxonomic suitability for eukaryotes, which suppress the amplification of mussels. The primers were tested using mussel DNA extracts and the results were compared to eDNA water samples collected next to the mussel colonies. Taxonomic recovery, as well as patterns of alpha and beta diversity, were compared between mussels and water samples. In addition, we analyzed time series samples of mussel samples from different German rivers. Our primer sets efficiently block the amplification of various mussel genera. The recovered DNA reflects a broad dietary preference across the eukaryotic tree of life and considerable taxonomic overlap with filtered water samples. We also recover various taxa of possible commensals and parasites, associated with the mussels. Our protocol will enable large scale dietary analysis in mussels, facilitate aquatic food web analysis, elucidate the ecological impact of invasive bivalves and the rapid survey of mussel aquacultures for pathogens. Moreover, we show that mussels could serve as an interesting complementary DNA source for biomonitoring.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

A holobiont view of island biogeography: unraveling patterns driving the nascent diversification of a Hawaiian spider and its microbial associates

The diversification of a host lineage can be influenced by both the external environment and its assemblage of microbes. Here, we use a young lineage of spiders, distributed along a chronologically arranged series of volcanic mountains, to determine the parallels between the evolutionary histories of the host spiders and their associated microbial communities, together forming the "holobiont". Using the stick spider Ariamnes waikula (Araneae, Theridiidae) on the island of Hawaii, and outgroup taxa on older islands, we tested whether each component of the holobiont (the spider hosts, the intracellular endosymbionts, and the gut microbial communities) showed correlated signatures of diversity due to sequential colonization from older to younger volcanoes. In order to investigate this, we generated ddRAD data for the host spiders and 16S rRNA gene amplicon data from their microbiota. We expected sequential colonizations to result in a (phylo)genetic structuring of the host spiders and in a diversity gradient in microbial communities. Results showed that the host A. waikula is indeed structured by geographic isolation, suggesting sequential colonization from older to younger volcanoes. Similarly, the endosymbiont communities were markedly different between Ariamnes species on different islands, but more homogeneous among A. waikula populations on the island of Hawaii. Conversely, the gut microbiota was largely conserved across all populations and species, which we suspect are generally environmentally derived. Our results highlight that the different components of the holobiont have responded in distinct ways to the dynamic environment of the volcanic archipelago, showing the necessity of understanding the interplay between components to better characterize holobiont evolution.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spider Argiope bruennichi: a resource for studies on range expansion and evolutionary adaptation

BackgroundArgiope bruennichi, the European wasp spider, has been studied intensively as to sexual selection, chemical communication, and the dynamics of rapid range expansion at a behavioral and genetic level. However, the lack of a reference genome has limited insights into the genetic basis for these phenomena. Therefore, we assembled a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spider as a tool for more in-depth future studies. FindingsWe generated, de novo, a 1.67Gb genome assembly of A. bruennichi using 21.5X PacBio sequencing, polished with 30X Illumina paired-end sequencing data, and proximity ligation (Hi-C) based scaffolding. This resulted in an N50 scaffold size of 124Mb and an N50 contig size of 288kb. We found 98.4% of the genome to be contained in 13 scaffolds, fitting the expected number of chromosomes (n = 13). Analyses showed the presence of 91.1% of complete arthropod BUSCOs, indicating a high quality of the assembly. ConclusionsWe present the first chromosome-level genome assembly in the class Arachnida. With this genomic resource, we open the door for more precise and informative studies on evolution and adaptation in A. bruennichi, as well as on several interesting topics in Arachnids, such as the genomic architecture of traits, whole genome duplication and the genomic mechanisms behind silk and venom evolution.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2020

A unified model of species abundance, genetic diversity, and functional diversity revealsthe mechanisms structuring ecological communities

Biodiversity accumulates hierarchically by means of ecological and evolutionary processes and feedbacks. Reconciling the relative importance of these processes is hindered by current theory, which tends to focus on a single spatial, temporal or taxonomic scale. We introduce a mechanistic model of community assembly, rooted in classic island biogeography theory, which makes temporally explicit joint predictions across three biodiversity data axes: i) species richness and abundances; ii) population genetic diversities; and iii) trait variation in a phylogenetic context. We demonstrate that each data axis captures information at different timescales, and that integrating these axes enables discriminating among previously unidentifiable community assembly models. We combine our massive eco-evolutionary synthesis simulations (MESS) with supervised machine learning to fit the parameters of the model to real data and infer processes underlying how biodiversity accumulates, using communities of tropical trees, arthropods, and gastropods as case studies that span a range of spatial scales.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Tarantula phylogenomics: A robust phylogeny of multiple tarantula lineages inferred from transcriptome data sheds light on the prickly issue of urticating setae evolution

Mygalomorph spiders of the family Theraphosidae, known to the broader public as tarantulas, are among the most recognizable arachnids on earth due to their large size and widespread distribution. Their use of urticating setae is a notable adaptation that has evolved exclusively in certain New World theraphosids. Thus far, the evolutionary history of Theraphosidae remains poorly understood; theraphosid systematics still largely relies on morphological datasets, which suffer from high degrees of homoplasy, and traditional targeted sequencing of preselected genes failed to provide strong support for supra-generic clades (i.e. particularly those broader than subfamilies). In this study, we provide the first robust phylogenetic hypothesis of theraphosid evolution inferred from transcriptome data. A core ortholog approach was used to generate a phylogeny from 2460 orthologous genes across 25 theraphosid genera, representing all of the major theraphosid subfamilies, except Selenogyrinae. For the first time our phylogeny recovers a monophyletic group that comprises the vast majority of New World theraphosid subfamilies including Aviculariinae and Theraphosinae. Concurrently, we provide additional evidence for the integrity of questionable subfamilies, such as Poecilotheriinae and Psalmopoeinae, and support the non-monophyly of Ischnocolinae. The deeper relationships between almost all subfamilies are confidently inferred for the first time. We also used our phylogeny in tandem with published morphological data to perform ancestral state analyses on urticating setae. This revealed that the evolution of this important defensive trait might be explained by three equally parsimonious scenarios.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Nanopore sequencing of long ribosomal DNA amplicons enables portable and simple biodiversity assessments with high phylogenetic resolution across broad taxonomic scale

BackgroundIn light of the current biodiversity crisis, DNA barcoding is developing into an essential tool to quantify state shifts in global ecosystems. Current barcoding protocols often rely on short amplicon sequences, which yield accurate identification of biological entities in a community, but provide limited phylogenetic resolution across broad taxonomic scales. However, the phylogenetic structure of communities is an essential component of biodiversity. Consequently, a barcoding approach is required that unites robust taxonomic assignment power and high phylogenetic utility. A possible solution is offered by sequencing long ribosomal DNA (rDNA) amplicons on the MinION platform (Oxford Nanopore Technologies).\n\nResultsUsing a dataset of various animal and plant species, with a focus on arthropods, we assemble a pipeline for long rDNA barcode analysis and introduce a new software (MiniBar) to demultiplex dual indexed nanopore reads. We find excellent phylogenetic and taxonomic resolution offered by long rDNA sequences across broad taxonomic scales. We highlight the simplicity of our approach by field barcoding with a miniaturized, mobile laboratory in a remote rainforest. We also test the utility of long rDNA amplicons for analysis of community diversity through metabarcoding and find that they recover highly skewed diversity estimates.\n\nConclusionsSequencing dual indexed, long rDNA amplicons on the MinION platform is a straightforward, cost effective, portable and universal approach for eukaryote DNA barcoding. Long rDNA amplicons scale up DNA barcoding by enabling the accurate recovery of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. However, bulk community analyses using long-read approaches may introduce biases and will require further exploration.

ecology↗