Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding for detecting arthropod pollinators, pests and parasites of a horticultural species

Abstract

Global food production is increasingly threatened as the ecological services that underpin crop yields are affected by an array of biotic and abiotic stressors. Beneficial (e.g. pollinators and predators) and antagonistic arthropods (e.g. pests and pathogens) are an important biotic component of agroecosystems. This thesis explores environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding, as a survey tool to detect ecologically significant arthropods and the resources upon which they rely in agroecosystems.