Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring
ABSTRACT Worldwide, freshwater vertebrate populations are declining with increasing pressure on rivers due to numerous environmental and climatic threats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) could potentially provide a more efficient and non‐invasive mechanism to monitor freshwater systems, either as a complem...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Environmental DNA |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70040 |
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| author | Emma R. Stevens Josephine Hyde Leah S. Beesley Daniel C. Gwinn Suzanne Thompson Lenore Morris Paige R. Wilson Deirdre B. Gleeson |
| author_facet | Emma R. Stevens Josephine Hyde Leah S. Beesley Daniel C. Gwinn Suzanne Thompson Lenore Morris Paige R. Wilson Deirdre B. Gleeson |
| author_sort | Emma R. Stevens |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Worldwide, freshwater vertebrate populations are declining with increasing pressure on rivers due to numerous environmental and climatic threats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) could potentially provide a more efficient and non‐invasive mechanism to monitor freshwater systems, either as a complement or in replacement to traditional methods to accurately assess species' distributions. Here, we utilize a hierarchical multispecies N‐mixture model to compare three fish sampling methods: traditional fyke netting and active and passive environmental DNA sampling along a 30 km stretch of the Canning River in Western Australia. We used the fitted model to compare capture probabilities among sampling methods and reveal the sampling effort required to describe the species assemblage. Results indicated that while all methods could detect fish, combined eDNA methodologies detected one more fish species than those caught by fyke netting. In addition, active eDNA sampling produced the highest capture probabilities and more consistently described the entire fish assemblage at any given site. Fyke netting and passive eDNA did not show significant differences in their average capture probabilities, and both methods had lower abilities to capture individual species than active eDNA. Active eDNA also required fewer replicate samples to detect the expected observed richness, and fyke netting required the most replicates. Additionally, a hierarchical multispecies abundance model showed that active environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling is the most effective method for monitoring freshwater fish populations. This study contributes to our understanding of eDNA in aquatic systems and demonstrates that, at least under current conditions, active sampling is still the preferred method in freshwater systems with low flow compared to both passive sampling and fyke netting. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1eb62b221f8847529b67ac9353f49379 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2637-4943 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental DNA |
| spelling | doaj-art-1eb62b221f8847529b67ac9353f493792025-01-29T05:11:50ZengWileyEnvironmental DNA2637-49432024-11-0166n/an/a10.1002/edn3.70040Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective MonitoringEmma R. Stevens0Josephine Hyde1Leah S. Beesley2Daniel C. Gwinn3Suzanne Thompson4Lenore Morris5Paige R. Wilson6Deirdre B. Gleeson7UWA School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia AustraliaEcosystem Science, Biodiversity and Conservation Science Division, Department of Biodiversity, Conservations and Attractions Perth Western Australia AustraliaUWA School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia AustraliaBiometric Research South Fremantle Western Australia AustraliaRivers and Estuaries Science, Biodiversity and Conservation Science Division, Department of Biodiversity, Conservations and Attractions Perth Western Australia AustraliaUWA School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia AustraliaEcosystem Science, Biodiversity and Conservation Science Division, Department of Biodiversity, Conservations and Attractions Perth Western Australia AustraliaUWA School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia AustraliaABSTRACT Worldwide, freshwater vertebrate populations are declining with increasing pressure on rivers due to numerous environmental and climatic threats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) could potentially provide a more efficient and non‐invasive mechanism to monitor freshwater systems, either as a complement or in replacement to traditional methods to accurately assess species' distributions. Here, we utilize a hierarchical multispecies N‐mixture model to compare three fish sampling methods: traditional fyke netting and active and passive environmental DNA sampling along a 30 km stretch of the Canning River in Western Australia. We used the fitted model to compare capture probabilities among sampling methods and reveal the sampling effort required to describe the species assemblage. Results indicated that while all methods could detect fish, combined eDNA methodologies detected one more fish species than those caught by fyke netting. In addition, active eDNA sampling produced the highest capture probabilities and more consistently described the entire fish assemblage at any given site. Fyke netting and passive eDNA did not show significant differences in their average capture probabilities, and both methods had lower abilities to capture individual species than active eDNA. Active eDNA also required fewer replicate samples to detect the expected observed richness, and fyke netting required the most replicates. Additionally, a hierarchical multispecies abundance model showed that active environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling is the most effective method for monitoring freshwater fish populations. This study contributes to our understanding of eDNA in aquatic systems and demonstrates that, at least under current conditions, active sampling is still the preferred method in freshwater systems with low flow compared to both passive sampling and fyke netting.https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70040active eDNAenvironmental DNAfreshwaterhierarchical multispecies abundance modelmanagementpassive eDNA |
| spellingShingle | Emma R. Stevens Josephine Hyde Leah S. Beesley Daniel C. Gwinn Suzanne Thompson Lenore Morris Paige R. Wilson Deirdre B. Gleeson Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring Environmental DNA active eDNA environmental DNA freshwater hierarchical multispecies abundance model management passive eDNA |
| title | Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring |
| title_full | Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring |
| title_fullStr | Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring |
| title_short | Fishy Business—Assessing the Efficacy of Active and Passive eDNA to Describe the Fish Assemblage of a River in Southwestern Western Australia to Support Effective Monitoring |
| title_sort | fishy business assessing the efficacy of active and passive edna to describe the fish assemblage of a river in southwestern western australia to support effective monitoring |
| topic | active eDNA environmental DNA freshwater hierarchical multispecies abundance model management passive eDNA |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70040 |
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