Lowe, A.; Jones, L.; Witter, L.; Creer, S.; de Vere, N. Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators. Diversity2022, 14, 236.
Lowe, A.; Jones, L.; Witter, L.; Creer, S.; de Vere, N. Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators. Diversity 2022, 14, 236.
Lowe, A.; Jones, L.; Witter, L.; Creer, S.; de Vere, N. Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators. Diversity2022, 14, 236.
Lowe, A.; Jones, L.; Witter, L.; Creer, S.; de Vere, N. Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators. Diversity 2022, 14, 236.
Abstract
The identification of floral visitation by pollinators provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of the fine-scale ecological interactions between plants and pollinators, contributing to biodiversity conservation and promoting ecosystem health. In this review we outline the various methods which can be used to identify floral visitation, providing a comparison between molecular and non-molecular methods. We review the literature covering the ways in which DNA metabarcoding has been used to answer ecological questions relating to plant use by pollinators and discuss the findings of this research. We present detailed methodological considerations for each step of the metabarcoding workflow, from sampling through to amplification and finally bioinformatic analysis. Detailed guidance is provided to researchers for utilization of these techniques, emphasizing the importance of standardization of methods and improving the reliability of results. Future opportunities and directions of using molecular methods to analyze plant-pollinator interactions are then discussed.
Keywords
DNA metabarcoding; pollen; pollinators; pollen metabarcoding; plant-pollinator interactions; eDNA; DNA barcoding, honeybees; bumblebees; hoverflies
Subject
BIOLOGY, Ecology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
