Elbrecht Vasco, Lindner Angie, Manerus Laura, Steinke Dirk
Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics (IBP), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
PeerJ. 2021 Jul 26;9:e11841. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11841. eCollection 2021.
Arthropod communities in buildings have not been extensively studied, although humans have always shared their homes with them. In this study we explored if arthropod DNA can be retrieved and metabarcoded from indoor environments through the collection of dead specimens in light fixtures to better understand what shapes arthropod diversity in our homes. Insects were collected from 45 light fixtures at the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG, Guelph, Canada), and by community scientists at 12 different residential homes in Southern Ontario. The CBG ground floor of the CBG showed the greatest arthropod diversity, especially in light fixtures that were continuously illuminated. The community scientist samples varied strongly by light fixture type, lightbulb used, time passed since lamp was last cleaned, and specimen size. In all cases, the majority of OTUs was not shared between samples even within the same building. This study demonstrates that light fixtures might be a useful resource to determine arthropod diversity in our homes, but individual samples are likely not representative of the full diversity.
尽管人类一直与节肢动物共享家园，但建筑物中的节肢动物群落尚未得到广泛研究。在本研究中，我们探讨了是否可以通过收集灯具中的死亡标本，从室内环境中获取节肢动物DNA并进行代谢条形码分析，以更好地了解塑造我们家中节肢动物多样性的因素。昆虫样本来自加拿大圭尔夫市生物多样性基因组学中心（CBG）的45个灯具，以及安大略省南部12个不同住宅的社区科学家所采集的样本。CBG的一楼显示出最大的节肢动物多样性，特别是在持续照明的灯具中。社区科学家采集的样本因灯具类型、使用的灯泡、自上次清洁灯具以来经过的时间以及标本大小而有很大差异。在所有情况下，即使在同一建筑物内，大多数操作分类单元（OTUs）在样本之间也不相同。这项研究表明，灯具可能是确定我们家中节肢动物多样性的有用资源，但单个样本可能无法代表全部的多样性。
