Figure 1:

A harmonized framework with a “modular” structure for metazoan metabarcoding. Schematic representation of the modular structure proposed for building a harmonized framework for the generation of metabarcode data for different fractions of terrestrial animals. Different fractions of terrestrial animal diversity are at the core of each “module” (red rectangle, e.g., the terrestrial arthropods module), and within such a framework, best practices and harmonized protocols are developed as submodules (black blocks). Submodules within each module serve as the fundamental building blocks that provide guidelines and recommendations for the 5 well-defined steps for generating metabarcode data (left panel, rows 1 to 5). Within this framework, tailored data generation pipelines can be configured within a module, drawn from the set of alternative submodules.