Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA
ABSTRACT Designing effective conservation plans to protect species from extinction requires a comprehensive understanding of their ecology. Conventional methods used to investigate habitat use are time‐consuming, and the detectability of cryptic species is often insufficient. Environmental DNA (eDNA...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental DNA |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70063 |
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| author | Julie Morgane Guenat Antoine Gander Luca Fumagalli Guillaume Lavanchy |
| author_facet | Julie Morgane Guenat Antoine Gander Luca Fumagalli Guillaume Lavanchy |
| author_sort | Julie Morgane Guenat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Designing effective conservation plans to protect species from extinction requires a comprehensive understanding of their ecology. Conventional methods used to investigate habitat use are time‐consuming, and the detectability of cryptic species is often insufficient. Environmental DNA (eDNA)‐based approaches provide a complementary tool to traditional monitoring methods for ecosystem monitoring and assessment. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, such methods have rarely been applied to investigate habitat use at a fine scale in a continuous wetland environment. Here, we used an eDNA metabarcoding approach to characterize the breeding habitat use of local amphibian species in a wet meadow expanse along the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland. We retrieved DNA from six out of the seven species expected to be present. We tested the influence of six abiotic environmental variables on overall species assemblages and individual species occurrences. We showed that the main factor structuring species assemblages was water temperature and that the distribution of three amphibian species was associated with several environmental variables. Our results indicate that the eDNA detection approaches are promising tools to study species' ecology at a small scale in continuous wetland habitats. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e023cd56d9a84ec791b902443697c719 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2637-4943 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental DNA |
| spelling | doaj-art-e023cd56d9a84ec791b902443697c7192025-08-20T03:16:31ZengWileyEnvironmental DNA2637-49432025-01-0171n/an/a10.1002/edn3.70063Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNAJulie Morgane Guenat0Antoine Gander1Luca Fumagalli2Guillaume Lavanchy3Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolution University of Lausanne Lausanne SwitzerlandAssociation de la Grande Cariçaie Cheseaux‐Noréaz SwitzerlandLaboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolution University of Lausanne Lausanne SwitzerlandDepartment of Ecology and Evolution University of Lausanne Lausanne SwitzerlandABSTRACT Designing effective conservation plans to protect species from extinction requires a comprehensive understanding of their ecology. Conventional methods used to investigate habitat use are time‐consuming, and the detectability of cryptic species is often insufficient. Environmental DNA (eDNA)‐based approaches provide a complementary tool to traditional monitoring methods for ecosystem monitoring and assessment. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, such methods have rarely been applied to investigate habitat use at a fine scale in a continuous wetland environment. Here, we used an eDNA metabarcoding approach to characterize the breeding habitat use of local amphibian species in a wet meadow expanse along the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland. We retrieved DNA from six out of the seven species expected to be present. We tested the influence of six abiotic environmental variables on overall species assemblages and individual species occurrences. We showed that the main factor structuring species assemblages was water temperature and that the distribution of three amphibian species was associated with several environmental variables. Our results indicate that the eDNA detection approaches are promising tools to study species' ecology at a small scale in continuous wetland habitats.https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70063Breeding habitat characterizationBufo bufoenvironmental DNAHyla arboreaLissotriton helveticusLissotriton vulgaris |
| spellingShingle | Julie Morgane Guenat Antoine Gander Luca Fumagalli Guillaume Lavanchy Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA Environmental DNA Breeding habitat characterization Bufo bufo environmental DNA Hyla arborea Lissotriton helveticus Lissotriton vulgaris |
| title | Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA |
| title_full | Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA |
| title_fullStr | Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA |
| title_short | Investigating Fine‐Scale Breeding Habitat Use by Amphibians in a Continuous Wetland Using Environmental DNA |
| title_sort | investigating fine scale breeding habitat use by amphibians in a continuous wetland using environmental dna |
| topic | Breeding habitat characterization Bufo bufo environmental DNA Hyla arborea Lissotriton helveticus Lissotriton vulgaris |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.70063 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juliemorganeguenat investigatingfinescalebreedinghabitatusebyamphibiansinacontinuouswetlandusingenvironmentaldna AT antoinegander investigatingfinescalebreedinghabitatusebyamphibiansinacontinuouswetlandusingenvironmentaldna AT lucafumagalli investigatingfinescalebreedinghabitatusebyamphibiansinacontinuouswetlandusingenvironmentaldna AT guillaumelavanchy investigatingfinescalebreedinghabitatusebyamphibiansinacontinuouswetlandusingenvironmentaldna |