Roberta Piredda

TL;DR: Overall, the background knowledge of the system provided a sound context for the result interpretation, showing that LTER sites provide an ideal setting for high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) metabarcoding characterisation of protist assemblages and their relationships with environmental variations.

TL;DR: It is concluded that some species‐rich tree genera in small geographical regions may prove exceptionally difficult to barcode and improved and diversified sampling should be embraced as a timely and important goal for the precise assessment of haplotype specificity to facilitate the productive application of barcoding in practice.

TL;DR: End-users accessing HmtDB are allowed to browse the database through the use of a multi-criterion ‘query’ system and analyze their own human mitochondrial sequences via the ‘classify’ tool or by downloading the “fragment-classifier” tool (for partial sequences).

TL;DR: The data gathered indicate that barcoding markers may help to identify closely related species clusters and contribute to the inference of major diversification and evolutionary patterns in oaks, but the methodology per se appears to be of limited efficacy in defining species limits, unless a profound revision of traditional Quercus taxonomic categories.

TL;DR: High plastid divergence in members of Quercus Group Ilex, including haplotypes shared with related, but long isolated oak lineages, point towards multiple geographic origins of this group of oaks and a strong geographic sorting in the focal group and the genus that is entirely decoupled from species boundaries is found.