eDNA analysis of yard waste samples reveals taxonomical diversity, sequence database limitations, and consistencies across sequencing platforms

Timely identification of biological species is often needed for various purposes, including economic reasons, and advances in DNA sequencing technologies have greatly augmented the ability to identify species through the application of DNA barcoding. One such method examines environmental DNA (eDNA) to sample the presence of organisms in an environment without necessarily having direct access to the whole organisms. In recent years, multiple high-throughput sequencing platforms have emerged, and...