Preservation of aquatic invertebrates for microbiome analysis

The storage method used while collecting aquatic invertebrates has not been standardized throughout the scientific community, and the effects of common storage methods on the microbial composition of the organism is unknown. Using crayfish and dragonfly nymphs collected from a natural pond and crayfish maintained in an aquarium, the effects of two common storage methods, preserving in 95% ethanol and freezing at -20C, on the invertebrate bacterial microbiome was evaluated. Determining the best method for preservation of aquatic invertebrates and conserving their associated bacterial communities gives the scientific community the opportunity to directly compare the effects of species, habitat, climate, nutrients, etc. on the microbiome of these aquatic organisms.