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Advancing capability for bioassessment using DNA metabarcoding: Application to aquatic invasive species monitoring
Citation:
Trebitz, A. AND J. Hoffman. Advancing capability for bioassessment using DNA metabarcoding: Application to aquatic invasive species monitoring. EPA SSWR Seminar Series, Duluth, MN, November 18, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
not applicable
Description:
Characterizing biological communities by their constituent species is fundamental to biological monitoring and ecological condition assessment. Finding and identifying rare species is a long-standing challenge for monitoring programs. Nevertheless, conducting surveys that can describe the “rare biosphere” is important because infrequently encountered species include those that are threatened, endangered, cryptic, or newly-introduced (and potentially invasive). Species identification has traditionally been carried out through analysis of morphological traits, both external and internal. More recently, the creation of species-specific DNA libraries has permitted identification of organisms based on a DNA “barcode.” However, incorporating DNA metabarcoding into biological monitoring requires attention to survey design, sample processing, and bioinformatics methods to improve the accuracy and efficiency of rare species detection. In this webinar, we present an approach to incorporating rare-biosphere information and DNA metabarcoding in the development of a Great Lakes program for aquatic invasive species early detection.