Composition of diatom communities on travertine barriers of the Una River (Bosnia and Herzegovina) obtained by DNA metabarcoding and morphological analysis

The process of travertine formation and carbonate deposition in the rivers is unique, delicate, depends on activity algae mosses. Although diatoms have been used extensively hydrobiological studies, comparative analysis data diatom communities barriers karstic are still scarce. study aimed to detect composition Una River, large river Bosnia Herzegovina. An integrated classical morphological identification approach with metabarcoding was applied eight samples across length profile. Morphological analyses were performed using both light scanning electron microscopes. Subsequent DNA chloroplastic gene 312bp rbcL done. DADA2 pipeline for bioinformatic treatment demultiplexed MiSeq reads infer Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs). ASVs taxonomically assigned Diat.barcode v7 reference database. A total 126 species identified approach, while 133 58 unique taxa molecular approach. Diatom community structures terms approaches congruent 49 shared species. Species from genera Gomphonema, Navicula Encyonema less analysis. most abundant River alkaliphilous, belonging Nitzshia Navicula. specific their extremely good chemical status, largely inhabited meso-eutraphentic taxa.