MARBEC, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France.
Research Center for Oceanography, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jl. Pasir Putih 1, Ancol Timur, Jakarta Utara, Indonesia.
Proc Biol Sci. 2020 Jul 8;287(1930):20200248. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0248.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) has the potential to provide more comprehensive biodiversity assessments, particularly for vertebrates in species-rich regions. However, this method requires the completeness of a reference database (i.e. a list of DNA sequences attached to each species), which is not currently achieved for many taxa and ecosystems. As an alternative, a range of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) can be extracted from eDNA metabarcoding. However, the extent to which the diversity of OTUs provided by a limited eDNA sampling effort can predict regional species diversity is unknown. Here, by modelling OTU accumulation curves of eDNA seawater samples across the Coral Triangle, we obtained an asymptote reaching 1531 fish OTUs, while 1611 fish species are recorded in the region. We also accurately predict (² = 0.92) the distribution of species richness among fish families from OTU-based asymptotes. Thus, the multi-model framework of OTU accumulation curves extends the use of eDNA metabarcoding in ecology, biogeography and conservation.
环境 DNA（eDNA）具有提供更全面生物多样性评估的潜力，特别是对于物种丰富地区的脊椎动物。然而，这种方法需要参考数据库的完整性（即附加到每个物种的 DNA 序列列表），而对于许多分类群和生态系统来说，这一目标尚未实现。作为替代方案，可以从 eDNA 宏条形码中提取一系列操作分类单元（OTUs）。然而，有限的 eDNA 采样工作提供的 OTU 多样性在多大程度上可以预测区域物种多样性尚不清楚。在这里，我们通过对珊瑚三角区海水样本的 OTU 积累曲线进行建模，得到了一个渐近线，达到了 1531 个鱼类 OTUs，而该地区记录了 1611 种鱼类。我们还准确地预测了基于 OTU 的渐近线的鱼类科的物种丰富度分布（²=0.92）。因此，OTU 积累曲线的多模型框架扩展了 eDNA 宏条形码在生态学、生物地理学和保护中的应用。
