Table 1. Overview of common genetic approaches used in biodiversity research and their advantages and disadvantages for field-based education.

Technique	Description of technique	Applications	Advantages	Drawbacks
DNA barcoding	Amplification of a short target region of DNA that contains species diagnostic sites.	(1) Species identification, (2) biodiversity monitoring, and (3) diet and pathogen detection from scat or plants	Easy, fast, and reliable; samples can be multiplexed on a single flowcell	Requires good reference databases.
Metabarcoding	Amplification of DNA barcodes using universal primers to detect many taxa within a bulk community or pooled taxon sample.	(1) Biodiversity monitoring, (2) microbiome analyses, and (3) diet and pathogen detection from scat or plants	Easy, fast, and reliable; samples can be multiplexed on a single flowcell	Requires good reference databases; given that analyses are usually based on individual reads, as opposed to DNA barcoding, the current read error rate might hinder correct species assignment; only one nanopore-specific pipeline available currently (WIMP).
Metagenomics	Shotgun sequencing of total DNA in a bulk community or pooled taxon sample.	(1) Biodiversity monitoring and (2) diet and pathogen detection from scat, tissue, or plants	Easy and fast; samples can be multiplexed on a single flowcell	A current lack of good reference databases; some taxa sequence better than others, which can lead to a skewed representation; high data requirements compared to DNA barcoding or metabarcoding; given that analyses are usually based on individual reads, the current read error rate might hinder correct species assignment.
eDNA	Metabarcoding for environmental samples to pick up trace DNA left by organisms living in the environment.	(1) Biodiversity community monitoring from environmental sources, i.e., water or soil and (2) invasive- or target-species detection in environmental samples	Easy and fast; samples can be multiplexed on a single flowcell	The current read error rate might hinder correct species assignment; no nanopore-specific pipelines available currently.
Genome skimming	Retaining only multicopy loci, such as chloroplast or mitochondrial genomes from metagenomics data.	(1) Species identification, (2) biodiversity monitoring, and (3) diet and pathogen detection from scat or plants	Easy and fast; samples can be multiplexed on a single flowcell	The current lack of reference databases; some taxa sequence better than others, which can lead to a skewed representation; more sequencing data required compared to DNA barcoding or metabarcoding.
Genome sequencing	Sequencing of the entire genome of an organism.	(1) Genome assembly and annotation	Requires only ONT library prep, so it is easy to execute	Requires a more-sophisticated high–molecular weight DNA isolation protocols; typically requires a high amount of sequencing coverage, more data output, and bioinformatics methods.

Abbreviations: eDNA, environmental DNA; ONT, Oxford Nanopore Technologies; WIMP, What’s in my Pot?