ArticlePloS one2014
Use of high throughput sequencing and light microscopy show contrasting results in a study of phytoplankton occurrence in a freshwater environment.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analysis shows both congruence and complementarity of DNA and eDNA metabarcoding to traditional methods for biological community assessment.Molecular ecology · 2022Pooled it
- Comparing Aquatic Environmental DNA, Microscopy and Sedimentary DNA to Investigate Cyanobacterial Community Dynamics Across a Trophic Gradient.Microbial ecology · 2026Article
- Comparing DNA metabarcoding with light microscopy to identify eukaryotic phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Comparison of Relative and Absolute Abundance and Biomass of Freshwater Phytoplankton Taxa Using Metabarcoding and Microscopy.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The enhanced neutral process with decreasing cell size: a study on phytoplankton metacommunities from the glacier-fed river of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
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- Novel insights in cryptic diversity of snow and glacier ice algae communities combining 18S rRNA gene and ITS2 amplicon sequencing.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2023Article
- The effect of metabarcoding 18S rRNA region choice on diversity of microeukaryotes including phytoplankton.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2023Article
- Using cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton to assess trophic conditions: A qPCR-based, multi-year study in twelve large rivers across the United States.Water research · 2023Article
- Comparative study of multiple approaches for identifying cultivable microalgae population diversity from freshwater samples.PloS one · 2023Article
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- Size-Fractionated Filtration Combined with Molecular Methods Reveals the Size and Diversity of Picophytoplankton.Biology · 2021Article
- Comparative analysis of freshwater phytoplankton communities in two lakes of Burabay National Park using morphological and molecular approaches.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- First insights into the impacts of benthic cyanobacterial mats on fish herbivory functions on a nearshore coral reef.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Changes in the Community Structure of Under-Ice and Open-Water Microbiomes in Urban Lakes Exposed to Road Salts.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Characterization of phytoplankton community in a river ecosystem using pigment composition: a feasibility study.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2020Article
- Article
- Consistency of Targeted Metatranscriptomics and Morphological Characterization of Phytoplankton Communities.Frontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Environmental DNA Sequencing Reveals a Highly Complex Eukaryote Community in Sansha Yongle Blue Hole, Xisha, South China Sea.Microorganisms · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Assessing phytoplankton diversity is of primary importance for both basic and applied ecological studies. Following the advances in molecular methods, phytoplankton studies are switching from using classical microscopy to high throughput sequencing approaches. However, methodological comparisons of these approaches have rarely been reported. In this study, we compared the two methods, using a unique dataset of multiple water samples taken from a natural freshwater environment. Environmental DNA was extracted from 300 water samples collected weekly during 20 years, followed by high throughput sequencing of amplicons from the 16S and 18S rRNA hypervariable regions. For each water sample, phytoplankton diversity was also estimated using light microscopy. Our study indicates that species compositions detected by light microscopy and 454 high throughput sequencing do not always match. High throughput sequencing detected more rare species and picoplankton than light microscopy, and thus gave a better assessment of phytoplankton diversity. However, when compared to light microscopy, high throughput sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA amplicons did not adequately identify phytoplankton at the species level. In summary, our study recommends a combined strategy using both morphological and molecular techniques.
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