The Biomonitoring 2.0 team published their latest findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA. The Gibson et al. study continues the teams’ research into timely, cost-effective approaches to identifying the contents of species-rich mixed environmental samples. Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), 16S ribosomal, and 18S ribosomal gene regions, the authors were able to accurately detect 91% of the 1,066 individuals morphologically identified from a single Malaise trap from Costa Rica’s Area de Conservación Guanacaste. For the first time bacteria and protozoa were detected in the passively collected mixed arthropod sample, including insect-associated microbes. This latest publication advances the team’s efforts to integrate a metasystematic approach into biodiversity research and monitoring.
