Leech-based iDNA biodiversity surveys in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo

16S amplicon metabarcoding sequence data from blood-feeding leech samples from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Leech samples were pooled and extracted at Queen Mary University of London and The University of Copenhagen, based on temporally and spatially matched samples. Leech pools were amplified for a fragment of the mammalian 16S gene using uniquely-tagged primers which were multiplexed for building amplicon libraries. Libraries were sequenced using the illumina MiSeq platform (150 PE).The leeches samples collected included leeches of two species from repeated surveys at fixed 25m x 25m vegetation plots. The species of blood-feeding leech are tiger (Haemadipsa picta) and brown leech (H. zeylanica) both common in the area. The sampling sites were in forest of varying quality, which have been subjected to various degrees of current and historic logging (part of the Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) project).This project is part of the consortium, LOMBOK (Land-use Options for Maintaining BiOdiversity and eKosystem functions), funded by NERC and is a multidisciplinary consortium of researchers investigating biodiversity and the services it provides in human-modified tropical forests. The specific goal of the study is to investigate how leeches can be used to detect differences in mammal community and how this is influenced by habitat differences. This is particularly relevant in an area of SE Asia which is subjected to increasing pressure from anthropogenic land-use change.