INTRODUCTION: Traditional approaches to collecting large-scale biodiversity data pose huge logistical and technical challenges. We aimed to assess how a comparatively simple method based on sequencing environmental DNA (eDNA) characterises global variation in plant diversity and community composition compared with data derived from traditional plant inventory methods. METHODS: We sequenced a short fragment (P6 loop) of the chloroplast trnL intron from from 325 globally distributed soil samples and compared estimates of diversity and composition with those derived from traditional sources based on empirical (GBIF) or extrapolated plant distribution and diversity data. RESULTS: Large-scale plant diversity and community composition patterns revealed by sequencing eDNA were broadly in accordance with those derived from traditional sources. The success of the eDNA taxonomy assignment, and the overlap of taxon lists between eDNA and GBIF, was greatest at moderate to high latitudes of the northern hemisphere. On average, around half (mean: 51.5% SD 17.6) of local GBIF records were represented in eDNA databases at the species level, depending on the geographic region. DISCUSSION: eDNA trnL gene sequencing data accurately represent global patterns in plant diversity and composition and thus can provide a basis for large-scale vegetation studies. Important experimental considerations for plant eDNA studies include using a sampling volume and design to maximise the number of taxa detected and optimising the sequencing depth. However, increasing the coverage of reference sequence databases would yield the most significant improvements in the accuracy of taxonomic assignments made using the P6 loop of the trnL region.

Center of Mycology and Microbiology University of Tartu Tartu Estonia

Departamento de Biología Agrícola Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto Córdoba Argentina

Department of Biology Nakhon Phanom University Nakhon Phanom Thailand

Department of Botany University of Tartu Tartu Estonia

Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa

Department of Natural Resource Sciences Thompson Rivers University Kamloops BC Canada

Department of Wildlife Management and Ecotourism University of Namibia Katima Mulilo Namibia

Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés Jules Verne University of Picardie Amiens France

Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice Czechia

Grupo de Microbiología Ambiental y Grupo BioMicro Escuela de Microbiología Universidad de Antioquia UdeA Medellín Colombia

Iluka Chair in Vegetation Science and Biogeography Harry Butler Institute Murdoch University Perth WA Australia

Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences Třeboň Czechia

Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences University of Tartu Tartu Estonia

Institute of Forestry and Engineering Estonian University of Life Sciences Tartu Estonia

Instituto de Biología Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Ciudad de México Mexico

Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal Universidad Nacional de Córdoba CONICET Córdoba Argentina

Zoology Department College of Science King Saud University Riyadh Saudi Arabia

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