Bird Diet and Parasite eDNA Metabarcoding Data from Farmland Steppe Species

Xabier Cabodevilla from the University of the Basque Country developed a mini-barcode primer for simultaneous eDNA metabarcoding analysis of diet and intestinal parasites from bird feces. The study tested the primer's capacity in silico and validated it on fecal samples from five steppe bird species. The data likely contains taxonomic identifications for relevant phyla like Arthropoda, Nematoda, Platyhelminthes, and Apicomplexa.

Use Cases

• Assess the impact of agricultural expansion on bird diet composition based on eDNA metabarcoding data.
• Study correlations between food availability and parasite incidence in farmland bird populations.
• Validate and compare the performance of different mini-barcode primers for eukaryotic taxa identification.
• Monitor the health and ecological status of steppe bird species for conservation management.

Strengths

• Primer validation includes in silico testing against a reference eukaryotic primer set.
• The developed mini-barcode, MiniB18S_81, showed good taxonomic resolution at the order level for four relevant phyla.
• Data is derived from a controlled scientific study published under an Open Access license.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of the Basque Country

Collection Method

eDNA metabarcoding from fecal samples of five steppe bird species.

Geography

Steppe bird habitats, specific location unknown.