Table 1. Sediment, eDNA and environmental variables in the Rio Doce estuary.

Salinity, Sediment total organic matter (TOM, %), particle size (% sand), concentration of trace metals (Fe, As and Pb), and Number of sequence variant reads (reads SV) and richness per station. All data sampled in August 2017 or 1.7 years after the Samarco disaster. Trace metals averaged from N = 2 replicates (SE). N, number of eDNA replicate samples sequenced per station. Reads SV. Total marine/aquatic meiofaunal sequence variants.

Station (N)	Salinity	TOM (%)	%sand	Fe (mg.kg−1)	As (mg.kg−1)	Pb (mg.kg−1)	Reads SV	Total SV richness
2 (2)	1.0	6.2	12	42,343 (2,468)	.3 (0.1)	56.9 (4.8)	256,072	32
3 (2)	0.6	16.8	72	41,808 (1,278)	10.1 (14)	77.8 (2.7)	265,363	33
4 (2)	0.3	2.1	90	33,681 (2,429)	4.5 (1.6)	173.3 (7.8)	359,718	40
5 (2)	0.3	2.2	95	28,710 (3,686)	1.6 (2.2)	115.4 (2.8)	293,669	51
7 (2)	0.4	2.1	64	36,142 (134)	0.1 (0.2)	74.5 (7.5)	101,127	23
8 (2)	0.2	1.5	96	21,419 (3,212)	0.1 (0)	134.8 (5.8)	238,735	39
9 (2)	1.0	1.9	91	28,155 (1,391)	28.8 (34.3)	111.4 (40.7)	254,335	44
10 (2)	0.2	3.5	89	27,184 (227)	0.1 (0)	83.1 (5.9)	226,548	35
11 (2)	0.2	5.2	70	43,116 (2,768)	0.1 (0)	67.3 (4.3)	272,299	34
12 (1)	0.1	2.4	84	39,029 (11,713)	13.3 (16.2)	174.4 (28)	132,722	54
13 (2)	0.2	13.8	91	54,983 (4,157)	3.9 (5.5)	117.3 (12.9)	236,707	53
14 (1)	1.6	2.4	86	27,920 (7,793)	0.1 (0)	30.3 (11.8)	71,648	40
15 (2)	3.7	6	85	34,532 (1,980)	16.7 (15.6)	78.2 (4.6)	320,192	41
16 (1)	0.3	3.9	90	31,539 (1,001)	0.0 (0)	33.1 (2.1)	35,915	44
17 (2)	0.1	1.7	90	21,191 (42)	2.1 (0.2)	192.9 (15.1)	54,355	50
18 (2)	0.2	3.2	88	37,781 (1,120)	11.2 (2.7)	160.8 (6.2)	222,481	46
19 (1)	0.4	2.3	93	36,244 (801)	3.7 (0.5)	118.0 (3.5)	103,987	31
20 (1)	1.9	1.9	62	18,814 (94)	0.1 (0)	14.2 (1.5)	139,712	29
22 (1)	1.3	10.2	91	24,501 (3,804)	0.1 (0)	16.0 (6.9)	69,713	16
23 (1)	0.3	2.5	89	44,506 (1,079)	4.9 (2.2)	99.1 (7.6)	133,700	26