The utility of DNA metabarcoding for studying the response of arthropod diversity and composition to land-use change in the tropics.
Metabarcoding potentially offers a rapid and cheap method of monitoring biodiversity, but real-world applications are few. We investigated its utility in studying patterns of litter arthropod diversity and composition in the tropics. We collected litter arthropods from 35 matched forest-plantation sites across Xishuangbanna, southwestern China. A new primer combination and the MiSeq platform were used to amplify and sequence a wide variety of litter arthropods using simulated and real-world communities. Quality filtered reads were clustered into 3,624 MOTUs at ≥97% similarity and the taxonomy of each MOTU was predicted. We compared diversity and compositional differences between forests and plantations (rubber and tea) for all MOTUs and for eight arthropod groups. We obtained ~100% detection rate after in silico sequencing six mock communities with known arthropod composition. Ordination showed that rubber, tea and forest communities formed distinct clusters. α-diversity declined significantly between forests and adjacent plantations for more arthropod groups in rubber than tea, and diversity of order Orthoptera increased significantly in tea. Turnover was higher in forests than plantations, but patterns differed among groups. Metabarcoding is useful for quantifying diversity patterns of arthropods under different land-uses and the MiSeq platform is effective for arthropod metabarcoding in the tropics.
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China.
Kingsly Chuo
KC
Beng
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.
Kyle W
KW
Tomlinson
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China.
Xian Hui
XH
Shen
Institut des Sciences de la Forêt Tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 58, Rue Principale, Ripon, Québec J0V 1V0, Canada.|Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, McGill University, 1205 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada.
Yann
Y
Surget-Groba
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.
Alice C
AC
Hughes
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China.
Richard T
RT
Corlett
Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jln. Tungku Link, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam.
J W Ferry
JW
Slik
D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000145:classification*; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D003198:Computer Simulation; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests; D028482:Hevea; D010802:Phylogeny; D012408:Rubber; D013662:Tea
D013662:Tea; D012408:Rubber