Collembola-specific D2 ribosomal primers and their metabarcoding applicability to biomonitoring habitats

Collembola are a widely used taxon to monitor ecological health and other soil parameters. They are especially amenable to metabarcoding initiatives because of their small size, high abundance, and ubiquity in most habitat types. However, most Collembola sampling protocols also collect a substantial and highly varied bycatch. This can be a major impediment to metabarcoding because of data loss to non-target species. We have designed a primer set for the D2 expansion segment of ribosomal DNA that is fully conserved across Collembola, but successfully excludes from amplification nearly all other invertebrate taxa.