Fit for purpose? Evaluating benthic invertebrate DNA metabarcoding for ecological status class assessment in streams under the Water Framework Directive

= 0.74, Spearman rho = 0.86). Regardless of whether we used abundance or presence/absence data, the resulting stream type classifications showed strong agreement. Thus, our study not only demonstrates the consistency of the methods for the stream types analysed but is also the first to operationalise a path to integration of metabarcoding data into the WFD assessment modules based on formal intercalibration guidelines.