Plant relative abundance estimates affected by primer choice in fecal metabarcoding

The goal of this study was to asses the extent to which ITS2 primer bias is misrepresents composition and relative abundance of plant material. Two primer pairs were evaluated in four constructed plant mock communities composed of three plant life form types (forbs, grasses and tree/shrubs). Additionally, the primers were evaluated for their validity in fecal DNA metabardocing though a large mammalian herbivore cases study.