Assessing arthropod diversity metrics derived from stream environmental DNA: spatiotemporal variation and paired comparisons with manual sampling

Author:

Aunins Aaron A.1,Mueller Sara J.2,Fike Jennifer A.3ORCID,Cornman Robert S.3ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Eastern Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Kearneysville, West Virginia, United States

2. Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Program, The Pennsylvania State College, State College, Pennsylvania, United States

3. Fort Collins Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Background Benthic invertebrate (BI) surveys have been widely used to characterize freshwater environmental quality but can be challenging to implement at desired spatial scales and frequency. Environmental DNA (eDNA) allows an alternative BI survey approach, one that can potentially be implemented more rapidly and cheaply than traditional methods. Methods We evaluated eDNA analogs of BI metrics in the Potomac River watershed of the eastern United States. We first compared arthropod diversity detected with primers targeting mitochondrial 16S (mt16S) and cytochrome c oxidase 1 (cox1 or COI) loci to that detected by manual surveys conducted in parallel. We then evaluated spatial and temporal variation in arthropod diversity metrics with repeated sampling in three focal parks. We also investigated technical factors such as filter type used to capture eDNA and PCR inhibition treatment. Results Our results indicate that genus-level assessment of eDNA compositions is achievable at both loci with modest technical noise, although database gaps remain substantial at mt16S for regional taxa. While the specific taxa identified by eDNA did not strongly overlap with paired manual surveys, some metrics derived from eDNA compositions were rank-correlated with previously derived biological indices of environmental quality. Repeated sampling revealed statistical differences between high- and low-quality sites based on taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, and tolerance scores weighted by taxon proportions in transformed counts. We conclude that eDNA compositions are efficient and informative of stream condition. Further development and validation of scoring schemes analogous to commonly used biological indices should allow increased application of the approach to management needs.

Funder

U.S. National Park Service

U.S. Geological Survey

Publisher

PeerJ

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine,General Neuroscience

Cited by 2 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3