title: Standardizing metadata and taxonomic identification in metabarcoding studies.
abstract: High-throughput sequencing-based metabarcoding studies produce vast amounts of ecological data, but a lack of consensus on standardization of metadata and how to refer to the species recovered severely hampers reanalysis and comparisons among studies. Here we propose an automated workflow covering data submission, compression, storage and public access to allow easy data retrieval and inter-study communication. Such standardized and readily accessible datasets facilitate data management, taxonomic comparisons and compilation of global metastudies.
authors.affiliation: Natural History Museum, University of Tartu, 14a Ravila, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Leho
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tedersoo
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kelly S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: R Henrik
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 14a Ravila, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Aivi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaljuvee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, 14a Ravila, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Urmas
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kõljalg
authors.affiliation: Natural History Museum, University of Tartu, 14a Ravila, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Kessy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abarenkov
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D016415:Sequence Alignment
keywords: Data storage; Digital object identifiers (DOI); Environmental metadata; High-throughput sequencing (HTS); Interactive database; Internal transcribed spacer (ITS); Next-generation sequencing; Species hypotheses