Data from: Carrion fly-derived DNA metabarcoding is an effective tool for mammal surveys: evidence from a known tropical mammal community
Torrey W. Rodgers, Charles C. Y. Xu, Jacalyn Giacalone, Karen M. Kapheim, Kristin Saltonstall, Marta Vargas, Douglas W. Yu, Panu Somervuo, W. Owen McMillan & Patrick A. Jansen
Metabarcoding of vertebrate DNA derived from carrion flies has been proposed as a promising tool for biodiversity monitoring. To evaluate its efficacy, we conducted metabarcoding surveys of carrion flies on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, which has a well-known mammal community, and compared our results against diurnal transect counts and camera-trapping. We collected 1084 flies in 29 sampling days, conducted metabarcoding with mammal-specific (16S) and vertebrate-specific (12S) primers, and sequenced amplicons on Illumina MiSeq. For...