A bright idea—metabarcoding arthropods from light fixtures

PeerJ

卷:9

Laura Manerus¹  Dirk Steinke¹  Angie Lindner²  Vasco Elbrecht³ 

[1] Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada;

[2] Centre for Biodiversity Monitoring, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany;

[3] Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics (IBP), ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;

关键词: Community science;    Citizen science;    Insects;    DNA barcoding;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.11841

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

Unknown