Abstract
The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) has recently been employed to evaluate the distribution of various aquatic macroorganisms. Although this technique has been applied to a broad range of taxa, from vertebrates to invertebrates, its application is limited for aquatic insects such as aquatic heteropterans. Nepa hoffmanni (Heteroptera: Nepidae) is a small (approx. 23 mm) aquatic heteropteran that inhabits wetlands, can be difficult to capture and is endangered in Japan. The molecular tool eDNA was used to evaluate the species distribution of N. hoffmanni in comparison to that determined using hand-capturing methods in two regions of Japan. The eDNA of N. hoffmanni was detected at nearly all sites (10 eDNA-detected sites out of 14 sites), including sites where N. hoffmanni was not captured by hand (five eDNA-detected sites out of six captured sites). Thus, this species-specific eDNA technique can be applied to detect small, sparsely distributed heteropterans in wetland ecosystems. In conclusion, eDNA could be a valuable technique for the detection of aquatic insects inhabiting wetland habitats, and could make a significant contribution to providing distribution data necessary to species conservation.
Highlights
Freshwater biodiversity, including that of aquatic invertebrates, is the overriding conservation priority of the International ‘Water for Life’ Decade for Action [1]
The environmental DNA (eDNA) of N. hoffmanni was detected at most sites (10 eDNAdetected sites out of 14 sites), including sites where N. hoffmanni was not captured by hand
The extracted DNA of N. hoffmanni was detected using the primer-probe set by real-time PCR, while that of the other tested species (L. japonensis, L. maculatus and L. grossus) was not
Summary
Freshwater biodiversity, including that of aquatic invertebrates, is the overriding conservation priority of the International ‘Water for Life’ Decade for Action [1]. To investigate the biodiversity and distribution of aquatic organisms, environmental DNA (eDNA)—genetic material obtained directly from environmental samples that are collected without targeting the organisms of interest—has recently been considered as a useful technique [2,3,4], including aquatic invertebrates [5,6,7] This technique can be applied to the study of many species of macroorganisms inhabiting various freshwater habitats, including rivers [8,9,10,11,12,13,14], and lakes and ponds [15,16,17,18,19]. There are larger variabilities in the estimations, especially in the field owing to the uncertainty of eDNA transports and releasing [23]
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