Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia
Aim: Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has demonstrated its applicability as a highly sensitive biomonitoring tool across small spatial and temporal scales in marine ecosystems. However, it has rarely been tested across large spatial scales or biogeographical barriers. Here, we scale up marine...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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WILEY
2021
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP160100839 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90904 |
| _version_ | 1848765456455827456 |
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| author | West, Katrina Travers, M.J. Stat, Michael Harvey, Euan Richards, Zoe Di Battista, Joey Newman, Stephen Harry, A. Skepper, C.L. Heydenrych, Matt Bunce, Michael |
| author_facet | West, Katrina Travers, M.J. Stat, Michael Harvey, Euan Richards, Zoe Di Battista, Joey Newman, Stephen Harry, A. Skepper, C.L. Heydenrych, Matt Bunce, Michael |
| author_sort | West, Katrina |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Aim: Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has demonstrated its applicability as a highly sensitive biomonitoring tool across small spatial and temporal scales in marine ecosystems. However, it has rarely been tested across large spatial scales or biogeographical barriers. Here, we scale up marine eDNA metabarcoding, test its ability to detect a major marine biogeographic break and evaluate its use as a regional biomonitoring tool in Australia. Location: North-western Australia (NWA). Methods: We applied metabarcoding assays targeting the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and CO1 genes to 284 surface seawater eDNA samples collected from 71 mid-shelf, inshore, coastal and nearshore estuarine sites over 700 km of the NWA coastline. Results: Metabarcoding detected a wide range of bony fish (404 taxa), elasmobranchs (44) and aquatic reptiles (5). We detected bioregional and depth differentiation within inshore bony fish communities. These findings support the presence of a marine biogeographic break, which is purported to occur in the vicinity of Cape Leveque, demarcating the border between the Kimberley and Canning bioregions. Inshore bony fish and elasmobranch communities, as well as coastal bony fish assemblages, were additionally found to differ between the South and North Kimberley regions suggesting previously unrecognized subregional differentiation amongst these taxa. The overall compositional data have been used to update distribution information for a number of endangered, elusive and data-deficient taxa, including sawfish (family: Pristidae), northern river shark (Glyphis garricki) and wedgefish (genus: Rhynchobatus). Main conclusions: eDNA metabarcoding demonstrated a high level of sensitivity that was able to discern fine-scale patterns across the large-scale, remote and oceanographically complex region of North-western Australia. Importantly, this study highlights the potential of integrating broad-scale eDNA metabarcoding alongside other baseline surveys and long-term monitoring approaches, which are crucial for the sustainable management and conservation of marine biodiversity in this unique marine region. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:35:32Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90904 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:35:32Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | WILEY |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-909042023-05-08T00:30:32Z Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia West, Katrina Travers, M.J. Stat, Michael Harvey, Euan Richards, Zoe Di Battista, Joey Newman, Stephen Harry, A. Skepper, C.L. Heydenrych, Matt Bunce, Michael Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology biogeographic biomonitoring elasmobranch environmental DNA Kimberley large-scale marine biodiversity marine reptile teleost threatened species Aim: Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has demonstrated its applicability as a highly sensitive biomonitoring tool across small spatial and temporal scales in marine ecosystems. However, it has rarely been tested across large spatial scales or biogeographical barriers. Here, we scale up marine eDNA metabarcoding, test its ability to detect a major marine biogeographic break and evaluate its use as a regional biomonitoring tool in Australia. Location: North-western Australia (NWA). Methods: We applied metabarcoding assays targeting the mitochondrial 16S rRNA and CO1 genes to 284 surface seawater eDNA samples collected from 71 mid-shelf, inshore, coastal and nearshore estuarine sites over 700 km of the NWA coastline. Results: Metabarcoding detected a wide range of bony fish (404 taxa), elasmobranchs (44) and aquatic reptiles (5). We detected bioregional and depth differentiation within inshore bony fish communities. These findings support the presence of a marine biogeographic break, which is purported to occur in the vicinity of Cape Leveque, demarcating the border between the Kimberley and Canning bioregions. Inshore bony fish and elasmobranch communities, as well as coastal bony fish assemblages, were additionally found to differ between the South and North Kimberley regions suggesting previously unrecognized subregional differentiation amongst these taxa. The overall compositional data have been used to update distribution information for a number of endangered, elusive and data-deficient taxa, including sawfish (family: Pristidae), northern river shark (Glyphis garricki) and wedgefish (genus: Rhynchobatus). Main conclusions: eDNA metabarcoding demonstrated a high level of sensitivity that was able to discern fine-scale patterns across the large-scale, remote and oceanographically complex region of North-western Australia. Importantly, this study highlights the potential of integrating broad-scale eDNA metabarcoding alongside other baseline surveys and long-term monitoring approaches, which are crucial for the sustainable management and conservation of marine biodiversity in this unique marine region. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90904 10.1111/ddi.13228 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP160100839 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ WILEY fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology biogeographic biomonitoring elasmobranch environmental DNA Kimberley large-scale marine biodiversity marine reptile teleost threatened species West, Katrina Travers, M.J. Stat, Michael Harvey, Euan Richards, Zoe Di Battista, Joey Newman, Stephen Harry, A. Skepper, C.L. Heydenrych, Matt Bunce, Michael Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia |
| title | Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia |
| title_full | Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia |
| title_fullStr | Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia |
| title_short | Large-scale eDNA metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western Australia |
| title_sort | large-scale edna metabarcoding survey reveals marine biogeographic break and transitions over tropical north-western australia |
| topic | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology biogeographic biomonitoring elasmobranch environmental DNA Kimberley large-scale marine biodiversity marine reptile teleost threatened species |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP160100839 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90904 |