Citation:

Waits, E., L. Smith, D. Denton, R. Bauer, AND S. Louie. Environmental DNA surveillance detects the imperiled Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus). 2022 Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Grand Rapids, MI, May 14 - 20, 2022.

Impact/Purpose:

We propose eDNA is a valuable tool that can be used to augment traditional monitoring programs, enabling higher spatial and temporal resolution, especially for species difficult to detect due to limited abundances

Description:

We evaluated the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) methodology to detect the critically endangered Delta smelt and other species of concern in the Yolo Bypass. This area is critical habitat for many aquatic species in the Sacramento River watershed, CA. eDNA was extracted from water collected during traditional monitoring events in coordination with the California Interagency Ecological Program (IEP), which has a long-term monitoring program to collect baseline data on juvenile and adult fish and water quality data in the Yolo Bypass. eDNA samples were interrogated using piscine metabarcoding (12s and 16s) assays, as well as species-specific TaqMan assays targeting Delta smelt, Chinook salmon, Sacramento pikeminnow, Sacramento splittail, and Longfin smelt. Our eDNA methodology successfully detected target species when they were visually observed and, in some cases, when not. For example, traditional survey methods (rotary screwtraps, fyke trap, beach seine, etc.) in the Yolo Bypass detected only a single Delta smelt (during March) across 156 sampling events between January and December. Alternatively, positive Delta smelt eDNA detections were observed on three occasions (January, March, and June) across 15 sampling events. We propose eDNA is a valuable tool that can be used to augment traditional monitoring programs, enabling higher spatial and temporal resolution, especially for species difficult to detect due to limited abundances

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