COS 132-1 - Environmental DNA survey captures patterns of fish and invertebrate diversity across a tropical seascape

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

8:00 AM – 8:15 AM EDT

Location: 515C

Presenting Author(s)

Bryan N. Nguyen

Research Associate
National Museum of Natural History, United States

Slides (PDF)

Coauthor(s)

ES

Elaine W. Shen

PhD Candidate
University of Rhode Island, United States
JS

Janina Seemann

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Germany
AC

Adrienne M. Correa

Assistant Professor of BioSciences
Rice University, United States
JO

James L. O'Donnell

University of Washington, United States
AA

Andrew H. Altieri

Assistant Professor
University of Florida, United States
NK

Nancy Knowlton

National Museum of Natural History, United States
KC

Keith A. Crandall

Director
Computational Biology Institute, The George Washington University, United States
SE

Scott P. Egan

Associate Professor
Rice Univeristy
Houston, Texas, United States
WM

W. Owen McMillan

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama
ML

Matthieu Leray

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama

Background/Question/Methods

Accurate, rapid, and comprehensive biodiversity assessments are critical for investigating ecological processes and supporting conservation efforts. Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys show promise as a way to effectively characterize fine-scale patterns of community composition. We tested whether a single PCR metabarcoding survey of eDNA in seawater using a broad metazoan Cytochrome oxidase I primer could identify differences in community composition between five adjacent habitats at 19 sites across a tropical Caribbean bay in Panama. We paired this effort with visual fish surveys to compare methods for a conspicuous taxonomic group.

Results/Conclusions

Environmental DNA revealed a tremendous diversity of animals (8,586 operational taxonomic units), including many small taxa that would be undetected in traditional in situ surveys. Fish comprised only 0.07% of the taxa detected by a broad primer, yet included 43 fish species not observed in the visual survey. Environmental DNA revealed significant differences in fish and invertebrate community composition across adjacent habitats and areas of the bay driven in part by taxa known to be habitat-specialists or tolerant to wave action. Our results demonstrate the ability of broad eDNA surveys to identify biodiversity patterns in the ocean.