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Metabarcoding as a tool for investigating arthropod diversity in N epenthes pitcher plants

2015; Wiley; Volume: 41; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/aec.12271

1442-9993

Leonora Bittleston, Christopher C. M. Baker, Lila B. Strominger, Anne Pringle, Naomi E. Pierce,

Plant and animal studies

Austral EcologyVolume 41, Issue 2 p. 120-132 Original Article Metabarcoding as a tool for investigating arthropod diversity in Nepenthes pitcher plants Leonora S. Bittleston, Corresponding Author Leonora S. Bittleston [email protected] Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USACorresponding author.Search for more papers by this authorChristopher C. M. Baker, Christopher C. M. Baker Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USASearch for more papers by this authorLila B. Strominger, Lila B. Strominger Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USASearch for more papers by this authorAnne Pringle, Anne Pringle Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, Massachusetts, USASearch for more papers by this authorNaomi E. Pierce, Naomi E. Pierce Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USASearch for more papers by this author Leonora S. Bittleston, Corresponding Author Leonora S. Bittleston [email protected] Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USACorresponding author.Search for more papers by this authorChristopher C. M. Baker, Christopher C. M. Baker Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USASearch for more papers by this authorLila B. Strominger, Lila B. Strominger Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USASearch for more papers by this authorAnne Pringle, Anne Pringle Harvard Forest, Harvard University, Petersham, Massachusetts, USASearch for more papers by this authorNaomi E. Pierce, Naomi E. Pierce Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138 USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 14 July 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12271Citations: 20Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Abstract The biodiversity of tropical forests consists primarily of small organisms that are difficult to detect and characterize. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods can facilitate analyses of these arthropod and microbial communities, leading to a better understanding of existing diversity and factors influencing community assembly. The pitchers of carnivorous pitcher plants often house surprisingly discrete communities and provide ideal systems for analysis using an NGS approach. The plants digest insects in order to access essential nutrients while growing in poor soils; however, the pitchers are also home to communities of living organisms, called inquilines. Certain arthropods appear to have coevolved with their pitcher plant hosts and are not found in other environments. We used Illumina amplicon sequencing of 18S rDNA to characterize the eukaryotes in three species of Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae) pitcher plants – N. gracilis, N. rafflesiana and N. ampullaria – in each of three different parks in Singapore. The data reveal an unexpected diversity of eukaryotes, significant differences in community diversity among host species, variation in host specificity of inquilines and the presence of gregarine parasites. Counts of whole inquiline arthropods from the first collection year were roughly correlated with scaled 18S sequence abundances, indicating that amplicon sequencing is an effective means of gauging community structure. We barcoded a subset of the dipteran larvae using COI primers, and the resulting phylogenetic tree is mostly congruent with that found using the 18S locus, with the exception of one of five morphospecies. For many 18S and COI sequences, the best BLASTn matches showed low sequence identity, illustrating the need for better databases of Southeast Asian dipterans. Finally, networks of core arthropods and their host species were used to investigate degree of host specificity across multiple hosts, and this revealed significant specialization of certain arthropod fauna. Citing Literature Supporting Information Filename Description aec12271-sup-0001-si.docx769.2 KB Appendix S1. Nepenthes samples and metadata. Appendix S2. The most abundant eukaryotic taxa from the Nepenthes samples. Appendix S3. BLASTn taxonomy assignments of 18S and COI sequences. Appendix S4. Spring-embedded network of arthropod OTUs from Nepenthes pitchers. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. Volume41, Issue2April 2016Pages 120-132 RelatedInformation