Journal ArticleDOI
Monitoring endangered freshwater biodiversity using environmental DNA
Philip Francis Thomsen,Jos Kielgast,Lars Iversen,Carsten Wiuf,Morten Rasmussen,M. Thomas P. Gilbert,Ludovic Orlando,Eske Willerslev +7 more
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TLDR
It is demonstrated that entire faunas of amphibians and fish can be detected by high-throughput sequencing of DNA extracted from pond water, underpin the ubiquitous nature of DNA traces in the environment and establish environmental DNA as a tool for monitoring rare and threatened species across a wide range of taxonomic groups.Abstract:
Freshwater ecosystems are among the most endangered habitats on Earth, with thousands of animal species known to be threatened or already extinct. Reliable monitoring of threatened organisms is crucial for data-driven conservation actions but remains a challenge owing to nonstandardized methods that depend on practical and taxonomic expertise, which is rapidly declining. Here, we show that a diversity of rare and threatened freshwater animals—representing amphibians, fish, mammals, insects and crustaceans—can be detected and quantified based on DNA obtained directly from small water samples of lakes, ponds and streams. We successfully validate our findings in a controlled mesocosm experiment and show that DNA becomes undetectable within 2 weeks after removal of animals, indicating that DNA traces are near contemporary with presence of the species. We further demonstrate that entire faunas of amphibians and fish can be detected by high-throughput sequencing of DNA extracted from pond water. Our findings underpin the ubiquitous nature of DNA traces in the environment and establish environmental DNA as a tool for monitoring rare and threatened species across a wide range of taxonomic groups.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Environmental DNA - An emerging tool in conservation for monitoring past and present biodiversity
TL;DR: The achievements gained through analyses of eDNA from macro-organisms in a conservation context are reviewed, its potential advantages and limitations are discussed, and it is expected the eDNA-based approaches to move from single-marker analyses of species or communities to meta-genomic surveys of entire ecosystems to predict spatial and temporal biodiversity patterns.
Journal ArticleDOI
Environmental DNA metabarcoding: transforming how we survey animal and plant communities
Kristy Deiner,Holly M. Bik,Elvira Mächler,Elvira Mächler,Mathew Seymour,Anaïs Lacoursière-Roussel,Florian Altermatt,Florian Altermatt,Simon Creer,Iliana Bista,Iliana Bista,David M. Lodge,Natasha de Vere,Michael E. Pfrender,Louis Bernatchez +14 more
TL;DR: The use of eDNA metabarcoding for surveying animal and plant richness, and the challenges in using eDNA approaches to estimate relative abundance are reviewed, which distill what is known about the ability of different eDNA sample types to approximate richness in space and across time.
Journal ArticleDOI
Environmental DNA for wildlife biology and biodiversity monitoring
Kristine Bohmann,Kristine Bohmann,Alice Evans,M. Thomas P. Gilbert,M. Thomas P. Gilbert,Gary R. Carvalho,Simon Creer,Michael Knapp,Douglas W. Yu,Douglas W. Yu,Mark de Bruyn +10 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the current frontiers of eDNA, outline key aspects requiring improvement, and suggest future developments and innovations for research, including improved ability to explore ecosystem-level processes, the generation of quantitative indices for analyses of species, community diversity, and dynamics, and novel opportunities through the use of time-serial samples and unprecedented sensitivity for detecting rare or difficult-to-sample taxa.
Environmental DNA for wildlife biology and biodiversity monitoring (vol 29, pg 358, 2014)
TL;DR: The current frontiers of eDNA are examined, key aspects requiring improvement are outlined, and future developments and innovations for research are suggested.
Journal ArticleDOI
Detection of a diverse marine fish fauna using environmental DNA from seawater samples.
Philip Francis Thomsen,Jos Kielgast,Lars Iversen,Peter Rask Møller,Morten Rasmussen,Eske Willerslev +5 more
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that even small samples of seawater contain eDNA from a wide range of local fish species, which indicates the potential of using metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) obtained directly from seawater samples to account for marine fish biodiversity.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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