Method comparison of microscopy, metabarcoding, and multispectral imaging flow cytometry for identification and relative abundance analysis of insect-dispersed pollen
) values of linear models between the method estimates were compared. Metabarcoding performed best at identifying the taxa from artificial mixtures, while the two other methods assessed the relative abundance most accurately when there was information about species identity. Comparability between methods was overall low when assessing pollen composition on pollinators. To acquire both pollen identity and relative abundance, we recommend a metabarcoding-guided MIFC analysis that can be used as a high throughput approach for pollen research at large spatial and temporal scales.
Authors
- Alexander Keller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5716-3634)
- Susanne Dunker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7276-776X)
- Tiffany M. Knight (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0318-1567)
- Thomas Hornick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0280-9260)
- F. Walther (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7463-4837)
- Elena Motivans Švara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2407-9564)
- Demetra Rákosy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8010-4990)
Institutions
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE)
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (DE)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2026-04-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47800-3
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00