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Data from initial evaluation of DNA metabarcoding for processing continuous plankton recorder samples

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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Data stored in a Dryad package (doi:10.5061/dryad.c75sj) associated with the publication: Genetic monitoring of open ocean biodiversity: an evaluation of DNA metabarcoding for processing continuous plankton recorder samples Authors: Bruce Deagle , Laurence Clarke , John Kitchener, Andrea Polanowski, Andrew Davidson. Molecular Ecology Resources. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) has been used to characterise zooplankton biodiversity along transects covering hundreds of thousands of kilometres in the Southern Ocean CPR survey. Plankton collected by the CPR is currently identified using is classical taxonomy (i.e. using a microscope and morphological features). We investigated the potential to use DNA metabarcoding (species identification from DNA mixtures using high-throughput DNA sequencing) as a tool for rapid collection of taxonomic data from CPR samples. In our study, zooplankton were collected on CPR silks along two transects between Tasmania and Macquarie Island. Plankton were identified using standard microscopic methods and by sequencing a mitochondrial COI marker. Data provided in the Dryad Data entry include the DNA sequences (Illumina MiSeq) recovered, the morphological identifications and the R-code used to analyse these data. The results from our study show that a DNA-based approach increased the number of metazoan species identified and provided high resolution taxonomy of groups problematic in conventional surveys (e.g. larval echinoderms and hydrozoans). Metabarcoding also generally produced more detections than microscopy, but this sensitivity may make cross-contamination during sampling a problem. In some samples, the prevalence of DNA from larger plankton (such as krill) masked the presence of smaller species. Overall, the genetic data represents a substantial shift in perspective, making direct integration into current long-term time-series challenging. We discuss a number of hurdles that exist for progressing this powerful DNA metabarcoding approach from the current snapshot studies to the requirements of a long-term monitoring program.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Data from initial evaluation of DNA metabarcoding for processing continuous plankton recorder samples
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/5204c614-bad7-4f8b-b556-4adebecf06d0
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
metadata@aad.gov.au
Reference Period 06/04/2015 - 20/04/2015
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    155.03906,
    -52.48278
  ],
  "type": "Point"
}
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Data from initial evaluation of DNA metabarcoding for processing continuous plankton recorder samples". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/data-from-initial-evaluation-of-dna-metabarcoding-for-processing-continuous-plankton-recorder-s