Abstract
The field of eDNA is growing exponentially in response to the need for detecting rare and invasive species for management and conservation decisions. Developing technologies and standard protocols within the biosecurity sector must address myriad challenges associated with marine environments, including salinity, temperature, advective and deposition processes, hydrochemistry and pH, and contaminating agents. These approaches must also provide a robust framework that meets the need for biosecurity management decisions regarding threats to human health, environmental resources, and economic interests, especially in areas with limited clean-laboratory resources and experienced personnel. This contribution aims to facilitate dialogue and innovation within this sector by reviewing current approaches for sample collection, post-sampling capture and concentration of eDNA, preservation, and extraction, all through a biosecurity monitoring lens.
Highlights
Biological invasions have followed human activities for centuries [1], with crossregional transfer of non-indigenous species (NIS) having amplified rapidly over the last few decades [2,3]. This is largely attributed to the massive increase in seaborne trade beginning in the 1950s [4,5], which has served as the major pathway for marine biological invasions [1,6,7]
Methods for isolating eRNA are broadly similar to those targeting environmental DNA (eDNA); the generally acknowledged view of increased eRNA susceptibility to degradation makes this area more challenging [12,50,160]. eRNA recovery rates have been reported to range from 70% to as little as 5% of the original concentration [161,162]
There is much promise emerging around the targeting and capture of NAs in biosecurity monitoring
Summary
Biological invasions have followed human activities for centuries [1], with crossregional transfer of non-indigenous species (NIS) having amplified rapidly over the last few decades [2,3]. The sensitivity of NA-based techniques has led to the unprecedented ability to characterize organismal assemblages across multiple trophic levels (e.g., [23,24]), detect and monitor rare species in complex environments (e.g., [25]), expand the known range of organisms (e.g., [26]), and identify potential threats (e.g., [27,28]) that have eluded traditional sampling approaches (e.g., electrofishing, imaging, settlement plates, dive surveys, plankton tows) While these examples demonstrate the immense benefits of using NA-based methodologies for screening environmental samples, several comparison studies have revealed apparent limitations in signal detection [29,30] that can originate from a variety of error sources within the workflow—from sample collection through to processing and bioinformatics (e.g., [31,32,33,34]). Large chamber water sampler that allows for sampling from one depth or a composite of several depths
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