ArticleCommunications biology2018
Biodiversity estimates and ecological interpretations of meiofaunal communities are biased by the taxonomic approach.
Article in Communications biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Species composition of small mammal communities and prevalence of Schistosoma japonicum in the Poyang Lake region, China.Parasite (Paris, France) · 2026Article
- Fundamental questions in meiofauna research highlight how small but ubiquitous animals can improve our understanding of Nature.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Microbiota Associated WithEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- First record of a proseriate flatworm predating on a rhabdocoel (Platyhelminthes: Proseriata and Rhabdocoela).Biodiversity data journal · 2024Article
- Metabarcoding the Antarctic Peninsula biodiversity using a multi-gene approach.ISME communications · 2022Article
- Frequent origins of traumatic insemination involve convergent shifts in sperm and genital morphology.Evolution letters · 2022Article
- Comparing eDNA metabarcoding primers for assessing fish communities in a biodiverse estuary.PloS one · 2022Article
- Article
- The curious and neglected soft-bodied meiofauna: Rouphozoa (Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes).Hydrobiologia · 2020Article
- Human access impacts biodiversity of microscopic animals in sandy beaches.Communications biology · 2020Article
- Comparison of morphological, DNA barcoding, and metabarcoding characterizations of freshwater nematode communities.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Biodiversity between sand grains: Meiofauna composition across southern and western Sweden assessed by metabarcoding.Biodiversity data journal · 2020Article
- Preface: Patterns and processes of meiofauna in freshwater ecosystems.Hydrobiologia · 2020Article
- Chronic trace metals effects of mine tailings on estuarine assemblages revealed by environmental DNA.PeerJ · 2019Article
- Riding the Storm: Microeukaryote Community Responses to Hurricane Disturbance.The Journal of eukaryotic microbiologyArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Accurate assessments of biodiversity are crucial to advising ecosystem-monitoring programs and understanding ecosystem function. Nevertheless, a standard operating procedure to assess biodiversity accurately and consistently has not been established. This is especially true for meiofauna, a diverse community (>20 phyla) of small benthic invertebrates that have fundamental ecological roles. Recent studies show that metabarcoding is a cost-effective and time-effective method to estimate meiofauna biodiversity, in contrast to morphological-based taxonomy. Here, we compare biodiversity assessments of a diverse meiofaunal community derived by applying multiple taxonomic methods based on comparative morphology, molecular phylogenetic analysis, DNA barcoding of individual specimens, and metabarcoding of environmental DNA. We show that biodiversity estimates are strongly biased across taxonomic methods and phyla. Such biases affect understanding of community structures and ecological interpretations. This study supports the urgency of improving aspects of environmental high-throughput sequencing and the value of taxonomists in correctly understanding biodiversity estimates.
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