Dr Leonie Suter1, Ms Andrea Polanowski1, Ms Georgia Nester3, Dr Anna MacDonald1, Dr Bruce Deagle2
1Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Australia, 2CSIRO, Hobart, Australia, 3Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Monitoring biodiversity, particularly over longer time scales, can help us understand how ecosystems respond to changing conditions, identify biodiversity hotspots and can contribute to the management of conservation. However, metazoan biodiversity surveys in the open ocean are notoriously difficult, particularly in remote areas such as the Southern Ocean. eDNA metabarcoding from water samples provides new opportunities to characterise ocean biodiversity, but best practice guidelines are needed for the most appropriate methods. In this study, we evaluate several eDNA metabarcoding strategies as part of a metazoan biodiversity survey of the Southern Ocean. We compare two sampling methods (two different volumes of surface seawater, filtered through different pore sized filters), two PCR methods (two-step PCR with dual labelled markers versus single step PCR with fusion tagged oligonucleotides), and four different metabarcoding markers (one broad range metazoan cytochrome c oxidase I marker, and three new group specific 16S rRNA markers targeting fish, mammals and Euphausiids of the Southern Ocean), along a transect spanning the Southern Ocean between Hobart, Tasmania and Australian Antarctic Davis station. Our results highlight various challenges for open ocean surveys and for eDNA metabarcoding more broadly, and we propose best practice approaches for future survey efforts.
Biography:
Dr Leonie Suter is a research scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division. Her current research focuses on biodiversity surveys of the Southern Ocean using eDNA metabarcoding, with a particular focus on Antarctic krill. Past research included studying sex determination and differentiation in Antarctic krill and epigenetic adaptation to harsh environments in plants.