Updated eDNA Results - Parsley Bay and Camp Cove
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Given that we are now well and truly stuck into the Marine Biodiversity of Southern Sydney Harbour project, I thought that I would share our updated biodiversity audit results based on environmental DNA (or eDNA) technologies. As mentioned previously, eDNA can be thought of as genetic “breadcrumbs” left behind in the environment that can identify every living thing, from microbes to mammals, and boy did we pick up a lot of breadcrumbs with our seawater sampling at Parsley Bay (Vaucluse) and Camp Cove (Watsons Bay) over the course of the last five months. This was all thanks to DNA sequencing provided by our friends at Wilderlab in New Zealand (https://www.wilderlab.co.nz/). Feel free to look through the "explore" tab on their webpage to view our sampling data populated on their map. Also feel free to view all the amazing flora and fauna that were detected at each of these locations. Please refer to previous journal posts on the nitty gritty details of how this eDNA technology all works.
Based on the “Wheels of Life” you see here constructed for Parsley Bay and Camp Cove, we detected 74 and 85 species of fish (with approximately 70% faunal overlap), respectively, with some of the more interesting (cryptic species) detections including the Southern Velvetfish, Pink Clingfish, Ringscale Threefin, Rosy Weedfish, and the Mother-of-Pearl Pipefish. Links to information on each these fishes are provided below. These detections were in addition to hundreds of species of molluscs, worms, crustaceans, rotifers, cnidarians, fungi, sponges, insects, plants, algae, diatoms, ciliates, birds (ducks, shags, and all that jazz), mammals, bacteria, and so much more! We are even detecting DNA shed by some of the feral terrestrial animals that likely utilize the surrounding area (rats and foxes). Stay tuned for more updates on the eDNA project in March.
This journal post was written by project leader and iNaturalist member, joseph_dibattista Dr Joseph DiBattista.
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