ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e101101

Assessing the diversity and spatial distribution of nematodes in the Store Mosse National Park (Sweden) using metabarcoding

Mohammed Ahmed^‡, Dieter Slos^§, Oleksandr Holovachov^‡

‡ Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden§ Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Merelbeke, Belgium

Corresponding author: Oleksandr Holovachov ( oleksandr.holovachov@nrm.se )

This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Ahmed M, Slos D, Holovachov O (2023) Assessing the diversity and spatial distribution of nematodes in the Store Mosse National Park (Sweden) using metabarcoding. ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e101101

Abstract

Nematode taxa of the Store Mosse National Park in the south of Sweden were surveyed using DNA metabarcoding. Samples were collected from a range of media across all the five vegetation types the park spans. A total of 50 samples consisting of soil, litter, lichens, sphagnum, roots, wood, moss, fungus and anthill materials were analysed. Nematodes were characterised using a ~350 bp region of their 18S ribosomal RNA gene that include V7 and V8 variable domains. The analysis identified 47 families, 76 genera (21 new to Swedish fauna) and 60 species (31 new to Swedish fauna). Some nematodes showed a strong association with certain medium types, especially at the species level. The results showed a strong justification for our strategy of sampling different medium types. Soil and litter communities, which were the most diverse, showed high levels of stability with good balance of all the various trophic and coloniser-persister groups.

Keywords

litter, molecular marker, national park, Nematoda, soil, vegetation