ranacapa

ranacapa provides interactive exploratory analyses and visualizations of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding data to support biodiversity monitoring and community ecology investigations.

Key Features:

• Interactive visualization: Generates interactive figures for exploring eDNA metabarcoding results.
• Exploratory biodiversity analyses: Supports simple community ecology analyses on metabarcoding-derived taxonomic data.
• Data input formats: Operates on a taxonomy-by-sample matrix and an associated sample metadata file.
• Implementation: Provided as an R package with a Shiny web application interface.

Scientific Applications:

• Biodiversity monitoring: Assists tracking species diversity and distribution using eDNA metabarcoding data.
• Education and outreach: Enables students and community scientists to analyze and interpret primary eDNA data.
• Natural resource and public engagement: Facilitates interaction with eDNA results by natural resource managers and naturalists to inform ecological decision-making.

Methodology:

Integrates eDNA metabarcoding results provided as a taxonomy-by-sample matrix and sample metadata into an R/Shiny application to perform exploratory community ecology analyses and visualizations.