Dr Dale McNeil1, Dr Bronwyn Ayre1, Kane White1, Simon Kaminskas1, Professor Nick Bond2, Dr Michael Shackleton2, Dr David Crook3, Dr Meaghan Duncan3, Dr Nicole Carroll1
1Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Canberra, Australia, 2La Trobe University, Wodonga, Australia, 3Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Australia
Biography:
Dale has worked across central and southeastern Australia over the past thirty years undertaking research and management activities, mostly for state and Commonwealth agencies. His work with the irrigation communities of the Billabong Yanko creek system leads him into using eDNA to detect platypus populations, one of the westernmost detected in the Murray Darling basin. Since then, Dale has led and participated in eDNA projects to pilot the application of the technique to key management issues such as conservation of threatened species, biodiversity assessments, citizen science and comparison with traditional sampling methods.
Abstract:
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority is responsible for reporting on the condition of the Murray–Darling Basin, including the diversity and distribution of native fish. In 2021 MDBA launched the Basin Condition Monitoring Program, a $7.5 million 4-year monitoring program. Environmental DNA was quickly identified as a technique worth exploring to see how it can complement current fish monitoring. A comprehensive suite of eDNA projects are underway, including: i) review of eDNA projects that have occurred in the Basin; ii) using eDNA for citizen science biodiversity surveys; iii) our ability to use species-specific assays to identify threatened species presence; iv) the efficacy and cost of species specific vs metabarcoding for threatened fish species ; and v) comparing species detection by eDNA vs traditional Basin-wide fish surveys . A community of practice has been established, to bring together researchers, public and private labs and government agencies using eDNA across the Basin. 27 eDNA projects within the Basin have been published since 2016, with 21 focused on fish eDNA. Citizen science sampling occurred at over 300 sites, detecting 41 different fish species, including 6 threatened species. Sixty-three additional sites have been samples for threatened fish across inland New South Wales and Queensland, with both species specific and metabarcoding analysis underway. 110 electrofishing sites have had eDNA samples collected, with preliminary eDNA results identifying 21 fish species. Early results suggest that eDNA is a cost-effective tool for monitoring fish biodiversity and species distribution in an area of over a million square kilometers.