Assessing the relevance of DNA metabarcoding compared to morphological identification for lake phytoplankton monitoring.

Phytoplankton is a key biological group used to assess the ecological status of lakes. The classical monitoring approach relies on microscopic identification and counting of phytoplankton species, which is time-consuming and requires high taxonomic expertise. High-throughput sequencing, combined with metabarcoding, has recently demonstrated its potential as an alternative approach for plankton surveys.