Protists from Qatar soils

This study investigates eukaryotic biodiversity in arid and saline soil habitats across southern Qatar using environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. A total of 100 soil samples were collected from five sites representing two habitat types: Rawdha (fertile depressions) and Sabkha (saline flats). Soil sampling was conducted following a rain event in December 2018, and eDNA was extracted using the DNeasy PowerSoil Kit (Qiagen). The V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene was amplified using the primer pair 574*f/1132R and sequenced on an Illumina platform. Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were generated using the DADA2 pipeline and assigned taxonomic identities using the PR2 database. This dataset contributes to the understanding of microeukaryotic diversity in extreme desert environments.