DNA metabarcoding data of arthropods collected in different life stages of short rotation coppices (SRC)

The dataset comprises presence data of arthropods, but also on the groups 'Annelida', 'Bacillariophyta', 'Ascomycota', 'Basidiomycota', 'Bryozoa', 'Chordata', 'Cnidaria', 'Echinodermata', 'Glomeromycota', 'Haptophyta', 'Mollusca', 'Mucoromycota', 'Nematoda', 'Nemertea', 'Ochrophyta', 'Oomycota', 'Porifera', 'Pseudomonadota', 'Rhodophyta', 'Rotifera' and 'Tardigrada'. The arthropods were collected in four different life stages of short rotation coppices (harvested, young (2 years), mature (3 years) and old (4 years)) using 3 different trapping techniques: branch sampling (BS), coloured canopy Malaise traps (MT) and pitfall traps (PIT). In each life stage, three sets of traps were placed (3 sites per life stage) and activated for two weeks, each in May, June, July and August. Once in a month, a branch sampling was conducted. In the branch sampling, 16 trees within a radius of 20m around the canopy Malaise traps were randomly selected and shaken for 10 s. Arthropods fell on a plastic tarpaulin of 1x1 m that was emptied into a collection bottle where the arthropods were stored in 96.7% ethanol.
The samples were analysed using DNA metabarcoding. In DNA metabarcoding, the Cytochrome Oxidase I-Region was targeted using the primers fwhF2 (forward) and fwhR2n (reverse) from Vamos et al 2017 (https://doi.org/10.3897/mbmg.1.14625)

The sequences found in the samples were matched with sequences in the BOLD database. The sequences displayed are already grouped like it is known from OTUs. For this grouping, all sequences with a similarity of 97% were compiled, which means that the grouped sequences finally comprise different genetic variants of the same taxa. For each hit in the database, a plausibility check was performed by comparing the distribution range of a species (calculated from GBIF coordinates) and the trapping locations. For each detection of a sequence in a sample, the number of reads is also given. A flagging system helps the user to estimate the degree of uncertainty arising from each species hit.