Using environmental DNA to monitor the reintroduction success of the Rhine sculpin (Cottus rhenanus) in a restored stream

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1 Aquatic Ecosystem Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
2 Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
3 Untere Wasserbehörde, Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, Schwelm, Germany
4 Marine Biodiversity, Naturalis Biodiversitu Center, Leiden, South Holland, The Netherlands
5 Emschergenossenschaft-Lippeverband, Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
6 Centre for Water and Environmental Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.27574v2
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Molecular Biology, Freshwater Biology
Keywords
Biomonitoring, ecological restoration, eDNA, reintroduction, fish, freshwaters
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
Hempel CA, Peinert B, Beermann AJ, Elbrecht V, Macher J, Macher T, Jacobs G, Leese F. 2019. Using environmental DNA to monitor the reintroduction success of the Rhine sculpin (Cottus rhenanus) in a restored stream. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27574v2

Abstract

Freshwaters face some of the highest rates of species loss, caused by strong human impact. To decrease this strong impact, ecological restorations are increasingly applied to restore and maintain the natural ecological status of freshwaters. Their ecological status can be determined by assessing the presence of indicator species (e.g. certain fish species), which is called biomonitoring. However, traditional biomonitoring of fish, such as electrofishing, is often challenging and invasive. To augment traditional biomonitoring of fish, 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 (Cottus rhenanus), a fish species that has been reintroduced into a recently restored stream within the Emscher catchment in Germany, in order to validate the success of the applied restorations and to monitor the species’ dispersal. We monitored the dispersal of the Rhine sculpin using replicated 12S end-point PCR eDNA surveillance at a fine spatial and temporal scale. In that way, we investigated if eDNA analysis can be applied for freshwater assessments. We also performed traditional electrofishing in one instance to validate our eDNA-based approach. We could track the dispersal of the Rhine sculpin and showed a higher dispersal potential of the species than we assumed. We validated the species’ dispersal across a potential dispersal barrier via eDNA detection and showed a steep increase of positive detections once the reintroduced population had established. In contrast to that, false negative eDNA results occurred at early reintroduction stages. Our results show that eDNA detection can be used to confirm and monitor reintroductions and to contribute to the assessment and modelling of ecological status of streams.

Author Comment

This is the second version of a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints. The manuscript was revised based on comments from two journal reviewers.

Supplemental Information

Supplementary File S1: Mafft alignment of 12S rRNA gene sequences

Mafft alignment of 12S rRNA gene sequences.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.27574v2/supp-1

Supplementary File S2: Coordinates of and distances between sampling sites

Coordinates of and distances between sampling sites.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.27574v2/supp-2