Comparing different methods of metabarcoding

Metabarcoding is a powerful, increasingly popular tool for biodiversity assessment, but it still suffers from some drawbacks (specimen destruction, separation, and size sorting). Fixative-based metabarcoding might be an answer. The ethanol used for sample preserving is filtered and DNA is extracted from the filter for subsequent DNA metabarcoding. However, the authors conclude that for a comprehensive assessment on total invertebrate biodiversity, this timesaving alternative may not be sufficient, and conventional bulk sample metabarcoding should be applied.