Using environmental DNA to monitor the reintroduction success of the Rhine sculpin (Cottus rhenanus) in a restored stream
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Molecular Biology, Freshwater Biology
- Keywords
- Biomonitoring, ecological restoration, eDNA, reintroduction, fish, rivers
- Copyright
- © 2019 Hempel et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2019. Using environmental DNA to monitor the reintroduction success of the Rhine sculpin (Cottus rhenanus) in a restored stream. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27574v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27574v1
Abstract
As a consequence of the strong human impact on freshwater ecosystems, restoration measures are increasingly applied to restore and maintain their good ecological status. The ecological status of freshwaters can be inferred by assessing the presence of indicator species, such as the Rhine sculpin (Cottus rhenanus). However, traditional methods of monitoring fish, such as electrofishing, are often challenging and invasive. To augment or even replace the traditional fish monitoring approach, the analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) has recently been proposed as an alternative, sensitive approach. The present study employed this modern approach to monitor the Rhine sculpin, a species that has been reintroduced into a recently restored stream within the Emscher catchment in Germany, in order to validate the success of the restorations. We monitored the dispersal of the Rhine sculpin using replicated 12S end-point PCR eDNA surveillance at a fine spatial and temporal scale to investigate the applicability of analyzing eDNA for freshwater ecosystem monitoring. We also performed traditional electrofishing in one instance to compare visual and eDNA-based assessments. We could track the dispersal of the Rhine sculpin and showed a higher dispersal potential of the species than we assumed. Furthermore, the eDNA analysis showed higher sensitivity for detecting the species than traditional electrofishing, although false negative results occurred at early reintroduction stages. Our results show that analyzing eDNA is capable of validating and tracking ecological reintroductions and contribute to the assessment and modelling of ecological status of streams.
Author Comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.
Supplemental Information
Supplementary File S1: Mafft alignment of 12S rRNA gene sequences
Mafft alignment of 12S rRNA gene sequences.
Supplementary File S2: Coordinates of and distances between sampling sites
Coordinates of and distances between sampling sites.