Detection of Macrobenthos Species With Metabarcoding Is Consistent in Bulk DNA but Dependent on Body Size and Sclerotization in eDNA From the Ethanol Preservative

DNA metabarcoding is a promising method to increase cost and time efficiency of marine monitoring. While substantial evidence exists that bulk samples adequately reflect diversity patterns macrobenthos, the potential eDNA in ethanol preservative benthic for biodiversity monitoring remains largely unexplored. We investigated species detection from four distinct macrobenthic communities North Sea. Bulk were extracted with different extraction kits five COI primer sets tested. Despite availability nearly complete reference database, at most 22% amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) assigned taxonomy phylum level. However, unassigned ASVs represented only small fraction total reads (13%). The Leray set outperformed other number non-chimeric detected, recovery beta patterns. Community composition differed significantly between samples, but both sample types able differentiate communities. probability detecting was lower than macrobenthos having medium body size chitine or CaCO 3 their cuticula. Detection not affected by morphological traits, indicating will be robust when using as template metabarcoding.