Biodiversity analysis of kettle-holes in NE Germany using eDNA and deep amplicon sequencing

In this study we investigated the effects of land-use type (arable fields, grassland, forest) on the biodiversity of kettle holes in NE Germany. For this purpose water and sediment samples from 65 kettle-holes were taken during 5 sampling campaigns between Dec 2016 and September 2017. Water was sampled when kettle holes were not dry. Sediment was samples from all kettle holes in March 2017 and later if the kettle hole changed it's hydrological status (i.e. dried out or became rewetted). eDNA was extracted from the samples and separate SSU amplicon assays were conducted for Archaea, Bacteria and eukarya.