Don't catch me if you can - Using cabled observatories as multidisciplinary platforms for marine fish community monitoring: An in situ case study combining Underwater Video and environmental DNA data

• Published in: Science of The Total Environment
• Main Authors: Mirimin, Luca, Desmet, Sam, López-Romero, D., Fernández Fernández, Sara, Miller, Dulaney L., Mynott, Sebastian, Gonzalez Brincau, Alejandro, Stefanni, Sergio, Berry, Alan, Gaughan, Paul, Aguzzi, Jacopo
• Other Authors: Marine Institute (Ireland), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España), Science Foundation Ireland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Elsevier 2021
• Subjects: Cabled observatory; Environmental DNA; Metabarcoding; Underwater Video; Non-invasive monitoring; Marine fish; atlantic cod; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/242290; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145351; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001602; https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033

11 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145351.-- Data availability: SmartBay Observatory Video Camera Data (Raw) dataset is available at: http://data.marine.ie/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/ie.marine.data:dataset.3880 (Gaughan et al., 2020) Cabled observatories are marine infrastructures equipped with biogeochemical and oceanographic sensors as well as High-Definition video and audio equipment, hence providing unprecedented opportunities to study marine biotic and abiotic components. Additionally, non-invasive monitoring approaches such as environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding have further enhanced the ability to characterize marine life. Although the use of non-invasive tools beholds great potential for the sustainablemonitoring of biodiversity and declining natural resources, such techniques are rarely used in parallel and understanding their limitations is challenging. Thus, this study combined Underwater Video (UV) with eDNA metabarcoding data to produce marine fish community profiles over a 2 months period in situ at a cabled observatory in the northeast Atlantic (SmartBay Ireland). By combining both approaches, an increased number of fish could be identified to the species level (total of 22 species), including ecologically and economically important species such as Atlantic cod, whiting, mackerel and monkfish Funding for this research was possible thanks to Marine Institute's National Infrastructure Access Programme (NIAP/18/004). This study was partly developed within the framework of the Tecnoterra (ICM-CSIC/UPC) and the following project RESBIO (TEC2017-87861-R; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades). The EMSO_SmartBay cabled observatory was funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) as part of an SFI Research Infrastructure Award under Grant No. 12/RI/2331 With the funding support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S), of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI)