Environmental DNA sampling of ponds in Arizona, USA for detection of invertebrate species

We tested eDNA metabarcoding as a survey tool to examine invertebrate communities in a uranium mine containment pond. We tested samples collected from surface water near mines and from one mine containment pond using one primer set that targeted the COI gene (Leray et al. 2013). Subsequent sequencing of these amplicons was used to assess eDNA genetic signature of invertebrates living in these ponds. Data include DNA sequencing results (FASTQ files) uploaded to the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (Bioproject PRJNA1293405). The goal was to see how well eDNA metabarcoding detects invertebrate taxa and community composition of the area to ultimately improve risk assessment of mining activity.