Evaluation of Marine Zooplankton Community Structure Through Environmental DNA Metabarcoding

Anni Djurhuus, Kathleen Pitz, Natalie Sawaya, Jaimie Rojas‐Márquez, Brianna Michaud, Enrique Montes, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Mya Breitbart

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

<p> Zooplankton dominate the abundance and biomass of multicellular animals in pelagic marine environments; however, traditional methods to characterize zooplankton communities are invasive and laborious. This study compares zooplankton taxonomic composition revealed through metabarcoding of the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 18S rRNA genes to traditional morphological identification by microscopy. Triplicates of three different sample types were collected from three coral reef sites in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary: (1) 1 L surface seawater samples prefiltered through 3 <em> &mu; </em> m filters and subsequently collected on 0.22 <em> &mu; </em> m filters for eDNA (PF&hyphen;eDNA); (2) 1 L surface seawater samples filtered on 0.22 <em> &mu; </em> m pore&hyphen;size filters (environmental DNA; eDNA), and (3) zooplankton tissue samples from 64 <em> &mu; </em> m, 200 <em> &mu; </em> m, and 500 <em> &mu; </em> m mesh size net tows. The zooplankton tissue samples were split, with half identified morphologically and tissue DNA (T&hyphen;DNA) extracted from the other half. The COI and 18S rRNA gene metabarcoding of PF&hyphen;eDNA, eDNA, and T&hyphen;DNA samples was performed using Illumina MiSeq. Of the families detected with COI and 18S rRNA gene metabarcoding, 40% and 32%, respectively, were also identified through morphological assessments. Significant differences in taxonomic composition were observed between PF&hyphen;DNA, eDNA, and T&hyphen;DNA with both genetic markers. PF&hyphen;eDNA resulted in detection of fewer taxa than the other two sample types; thus, prefiltering is not recommended. All dominant copepod taxa (&gt; 5% of total abundance) were detected with eDNA, T&hyphen;DNA, and morphological assessments, demonstrating that eDNA metabarcoding is a promising technique for future biodiversity assessments of pelagic zooplankton in marine systems.</p>
Original languageAmerican English
JournalLimnology and Oceanography: Methods
Volume16
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2018

Disciplines

  • Life Sciences

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