Hi Liz,
Thanks for the reply! I’ve actually moved on from this; couldn’t figure out an easy way to convert the MARES formatted taxonomy into a QIIME acceptable taxonomy (e.g., k_Animalia ;p_Chordata and so on). I’m attempting to use RESCRIPT instead. It won’t be curated to marine-only taxonomic groups, so probably will be less computationally efficient, but it looks like it will be a little less of a headache.
Thanks anyway!