Fish diversity assessment and semi-quantitative biomass estimation through metabarcoding of environmental DNA

IF 7 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Ecological Indicators Pub Date : 2025-04-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2025.113406

Yassine Kasmi , Ismael Núñez-Riboni , Tina Blancke , Benita Möckel , Matthias Bernreuther , Christoph Stransky , Reinhold Hanel

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

A sustainable management of marine fisheries resources requires the continuous development and adaptation of monitoring and tracking techniques, both in terms of species diversity and abundance. In order to find alternatives to common invasive catch-based biodiversity assessments, we tested a fish-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding approach, targeting the mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene. Analysis of 64 seawater and sediment samples revealed a high detectability of fish DNA in the North Sea, with more reliable results in water compared to sediment samples. Species diversity assessments overlapped by 81 % between eDNA and bottom trawl catch analyses, with more than 32 % of the species detected only by eDNA compared to bottom trawling as reference value (100 %).

With regard to quantitative biomass estimates for common dab (Limanda limanda), the eDNA-based estimates revealed similar results as compared to bottom-trawl catches. Modelling of trawl outputs as a function of read counts and sampling depth yielded up to 70% correlation between the model and the observed data for common dab.

The outcomes of this study again highlight the potential of eDNA for marine biodiversity monitoring, not only for presence/absence assignments of species, but also for biomass estimates, with a high degree of reliability as compared to reference methods. The model reveals the importance of including environmental data to correct the bias linked to the persistence of eDNA in seawater.

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来源期刊

Ecological Indicators 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

11.80

自引率

8.70%

发文量

1163

审稿时长

78 days

期刊介绍： The ultimate aim of Ecological Indicators is to integrate the monitoring and assessment of ecological and environmental indicators with management practices. The journal provides a forum for the discussion of the applied scientific development and review of traditional indicator approaches as well as for theoretical, modelling and quantitative applications such as index development. Research into the following areas will be published. • All aspects of ecological and environmental indicators and indices. • New indicators, and new approaches and methods for indicator development, testing and use. • Development and modelling of indices, e.g. application of indicator suites across multiple scales and resources. • Analysis and research of resource, system- and scale-specific indicators. • Methods for integration of social and other valuation metrics for the production of scientifically rigorous and politically-relevant assessments using indicator-based monitoring and assessment programs. • How research indicators can be transformed into direct application for management purposes. • Broader assessment objectives and methods, e.g. biodiversity, biological integrity, and sustainability, through the use of indicators. • Resource-specific indicators such as landscape, agroecosystems, forests, wetlands, etc.