Water, water everywhere: environmental DNA can unlock population structure in elusive marine species

Royal Society Open Science
Kim M ParsonsLinda Park

Abstract

Determining management units for natural populations is critical for effective conservation and management. However, collecting the requisite tissue samples for population genetic analyses remains the primary limiting factor for a number of marine species. The harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), one of the smallest cetaceans in the Northern Hemisphere, is a primary example. These elusive, highly mobile small animals confound traditional approaches of collecting tissue samples for genetic analyses, yet their nearshore habitat makes them highly vulnerable to fisheries by-catch and the effects of habitat degradation. By exploiting the naturally shed cellular material in seawater and the power of next-generation sequencing, we develop a novel approach for generating population-specific mitochondrial sequence data from environmental DNA (eDNA) using surface seawater samples. Indications of significant genetic differentiation within a currently recognized management stock highlights the need for dedicated eDNA sampling throughout the population's range in southeast Alaska. This indirect sampling tactic for characterizing stock structure of small and endangered marine mammals has the potential to revolutionize population assessment ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 12, 2019·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Xavier TuronOwen Simon Wangensteen
Jan 30, 2020·Evolutionary Applications·Eva Egelyng SigsgaardPhilip Francis Thomsen
Nov 13, 2020·Molecular Ecology Resources·Mads Reinholdt JensenPhilip Francis Thomsen
Jun 20, 2021·Molecular Ecology Resources·Laurence DugalMark Meekan

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
biopsy
biopsies
amplicon sequencing
PCR
PCRs
Illumina sequencing
Assay
electrophoresis

Software Mentioned

Esri
ClustalW
R package STRATAG
VSEARCH
- BLAST application
DigitalGlobe
BLAST +
Zodiac
Primer
Earthstar Geographics

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