Welcome to the METABARPARK Project website. The project aims to apply the new high throughput sequencing technologies to characterize benthic communities in the Spanish Marine National Parks using environmental DNA (metabarcoding). Our main objective is to characterize the hidden biodiversity which is usually overlooked by traditional methods. We will also try to assess the community impacts of invasive seaweeds.

Monday, June 15, 2015

Second sampling in Cíes


In May 13th-16th, members of the Metabarpark team (Creu Palacín, Owen Wangensteen, Xavier Turon) went to Islas Cíes again for a second sampling. Our goal was to assess seasonal differences in the communities, by comparing this sampling with the one done in September.
We are thankful to Alex Macía and Buceo Islas Cíes, who provided logistic support and took us with his boat every day from Vigo to the islands.
We re-sampled the photophilous and sciaphilous communities, as well as the Maërl bed and the Lago dos Nenos sediment, at exactly the same places as in September. In addition, we obtained samples from a shallow community of Asparagopsis armata, an introduced seaweed.

From left to right, Xavier, Owen, and Creu ready to leave from Vigo
The samples will be processed in exactly the same way as those from September, and we expect to find significant changes in species composition and relative abundances linked to the seasonal component... let's see!
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