Developing and testing metabarcoding approaches to describe the vertebrate diversity within aquatic habitats

开发和测试元条形码方法来描述水生栖息地内的脊椎动物多样性

• 批准号: 523760-2018
• 负责人: Cristescu, Melania
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=678565
• 关键词: Developing; testing; metabarcoding; approaches; describe

Traditional methods for surveying aquatic communities are often costly, destructive and ineffective. The Canadian federal government spends more than $500M per year on environmental monitoring activities which involve more than 2500 people (estimate based on December 2011 report of the Canadian Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development). Industries spend an additional $300M on environmental monitoring. For example, our industrial partner, WSP Canada Inc. spends about $750,000 per year to monitor fish communities in impacted habitats. Molecular methods based on DNA isolated from environmental samples (eDNA) can considerably lower the costs of aquatic ecosystem assessment, particularly when assessing rare and endangered species. To date, significant attention has been placed on refining eDNA-based techniques to accurately capture and sequence the DNA released in the environment and to accurately determine the species present. However, we are still missing information on the "behaviour" of eDNA - how it is created, transported and degraded. These processes influence the chance of accurately determining species presence from molecular samples. For example, few studies have examined the role of seasonal water movements in lakes and how this influences the distribution of eDNA. We propose to sample dimictic lakes during summer months when water is stratification and during spring and autumn water turnover. We will sample the water column to create an eDNA depth profile and will validate the method using radio-telemetry tagging of lake trout. The proposed study will contribute to our understanding of the "ecology" of eDNA and its distribution within lentic systems. Moreover, this study will help WSP plan eDNA sampling campaigns, by taking into consideration how seasonal water movements influences the distribution of DNA molecules. Our results will be also applicable to anyone undertaking a comprehensive eDNA sampling campaign, such as academics, industry and government.

调查水生群落的传统方法通常成本高昂、具有破坏性且效率低下。加拿大联邦政府每年花费超过 5 亿美元用于环境监测活动，涉及超过 2500 人（根据加拿大环境与可持续发展专员 2011 年 12 月的报告估算）。各行业在环境监测上额外花费了 3 亿美元。例如，我们的工业合作伙伴 WSP Canada Inc. 每年花费约 750,000 美元来监测受影响栖息地的鱼类群落。基于从环境样本中分离的 DNA (eDNA) 的分子方法可以大大降低水生生态系统评估的成本，特别是在评估稀有和濒危物种时。迄今为止，人们对改进基于 eDNA 的技术给予了极大的关注，以准确捕获和测序环境中释放的 DNA，并准确确定存在的物种。然而，我们仍然缺少有关 eDNA“行为”的信息——它是如何产生、运输和降解的。这些过程影响从分子样品中准确确定物种存在的机会。例如，很少有研究探讨湖泊中季节性水运动的作用以及它如何影响 eDNA 的分布。我们建议在夏季水分层期间以及春季和秋季水周转期间对二重相湖泊进行采样。我们将对水柱进行采样以创建 eDNA 深度剖面，并将使用湖鳟鱼的无线电遥测标记来验证该方法。拟议的研究将有助于我们理解 eDNA 的“生态”及其在透镜系统中的分布。此外，这项研究将考虑季节性水运动如何影响 DNA 分子的分布，帮助科进规划 eDNA 采样活动。我们的结果也适用于任何开展全面 eDNA 采样活动的人，例如学术界、工业界和政府。