Metabarcoding vs. morphological identification for aquatic ecosystem biomonitoring: a case study
Year: 2021
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Phytoplankton and benthic diatoms are frequently used as biological quality indicators. However, \nconventional methods for species identification (light microscopy) are time-consuming and require a high \nlevel of taxonomic expertise. The Interreg Alpine Space Eco-AlpsWater project (EAW) has the aim of \novercoming these limits, exploring the application of high throughput sequencing (HTS)-based DNA \nmetabarcoding for water quality assessment in the Alpine region. Here, preliminary results obtained from \nLake Lugano (CH-IT) are used to evaluate the potential of DNA based approaches. For this purpose, in 2019, \n10 littoral sites were sampled for the study of benthic diatoms and one pelagic site was sampled monthly for \nthe study of eukaryotic phytoplankton and cyanobacteria. The HTS sequences of 16S rRNA (V3-V4), 18S rRNA \n(V4), and rbcL marker genes obtained from eDNA extracted from water and biofilm samples was compared \nwith conventional identification by light microscopy. The genetic approach showed a good consistency with \nconventional methods, in particular for dominant taxa, although the correspondence between approaches \nwas lower at the genus and, especially, the species level. Moreover, the HTS led to the identification of a \nhigher number of indicator taxa and was found to be a sensitive tool for the detection of rare or invasive \nspecies. Therefore, the approach proposed within the EAW project, and HTS methods in general, can be \neffective in the study of the biodiversity and in the improvement of the ecological quality assessment of \nwaterbodies.
Authors: Capelli, C., Domaizon, I., Eleršek T., Kurmayer R., Lepori, F, Dr Mischke, U. Rotta, Vautier, M., Salmaso, N.
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7020894875