Conservation in a cup of water: estimating biodiversity and population abundance from environmental DNA
Open Access
- 24 May 2012
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by Wiley in Molecular Ecology
- Vol. 21 (11), 2555-2558
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294x.2012.05600.x
Abstract
Three mantras often guide species and ecosystem management: (i) for preventing invasions by harmful species, ‘early detection and rapid response’; (ii) for conserving imperilled native species, ‘protection of biodiversity hotspots’; and (iii) for assessing biosecurity risk, ‘an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure.’ However, these and other management goals are elusive when traditional sampling tools (e.g. netting, traps, electrofishing, visual surveys) have poor detection limits, are too slow or are not feasible. One visionary solution is to use an organism’s DNA in the environment (eDNA), rather than the organism itself, as the target of detection. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Thomsen et al. (2012) provide new evidence demonstrating the feasibility of this approach, showing that eDNA is an accurate indicator of the presence of an impressively diverse set of six aquatic or amphibious taxa including invertebrates, amphibians, a fish and a mammal in a wide range of freshwater habitats. They are also the first to demonstrate that the abundance of eDNA, as measured by qPCR, correlates positively with population abundance estimated with traditional tools. Finally, Thomsen et al. (2012) demonstrate that next-generation sequencing of eDNA can quantify species richness. Overall, Thomsen et al. (2012) provide a revolutionary roadmap for using eDNA for detection of species, estimates of relative abundance and quantification of biodiversity.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- From molecules to management: Adopting DNA-based methods for monitoring biological invasions in aquatic environmentsEnvironmental Research, 2011
- Persistence of Environmental DNA in Freshwater EcosystemsPLOS ONE, 2011
- Molecular Detection of Vertebrates in Stream Water: A Demonstration Using Rocky Mountain Tailed Frogs and Idaho Giant SalamandersPLOS ONE, 2011
- Ancient DNA from lake sediments: Bridging the gap between paleoecology and geneticsBMC Evolutionary Biology, 2011
- “Sight-unseen” detection of rare aquatic species using environmental DNAConservation Letters, 2011
- Ultrasequencing of the meiofaunal biosphere: practice, pitfalls and promisesMolecular Ecology, 2010
- Advancing ecological understandings through technological transformations in noninvasive geneticsMolecular Ecology Resources, 2009
- Species detection using environmental DNA from water samplesBiology Letters, 2008
- Use of eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA to differentiate human, bovine, porcine and ovine sources in fecally contaminated surface waterWater Research, 2004
- Species-Level Paraphyly and Polyphyly: Frequency, Causes, and Consequences, with Insights from Animal Mitochondrial DNAAnnual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 2003