A comparison of European eel Anguilla anguilla eDNA concentrations to fyke net catches in five Irish lakes

Abstract The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. To protect what remains of the European eel population, accurate monitoring methods for this species are important. Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques are gaining popularity for ecological monitoring o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental DNA
Main Authors: Laura Weldon, Ciara O’Leary, Mark Steer, Lyn Newton, Heather Macdonald, Stephanie L. Sargeant
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020
Subjects:
Anguillidae
environmental DNA
Lakes
population monitoring
quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Microbial ecology
QR100-130
Anguilla anguilla
European eel
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.91
https://doaj.org/article/48c697a6515b40d5842cf8efc8a543ef
Description
Summary:Abstract The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. To protect what remains of the European eel population, accurate monitoring methods for this species are important. Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques are gaining popularity for ecological monitoring of aquatic organisms because they are sensitive and noninvasive. This study directly compared catch data from a standardized fyke‐net fishing survey with a single species A. anguilla eDNA survey in five freshwater lakes in Ireland. The eDNA was recovered by the filtration of water samples and amplified by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). European eel eDNA was reliably determined in 83% (70/84) of surface water samples collected from lakes classified as having high, medium, and low eel populations. In addition, there was a positive association between the eDNA concentrations recovered and the eel population classification with lower eDNA concentrations in lakes classified as low eel population lakes. Similar amounts of A. anguilla eDNA were detected in water samples collected from open water and shore‐side, suggesting shore sampling is an adequate method for eel detection. Together, the results demonstrate that eDNA sampling is more sensitive for detecting eel presence in low eel population environments than standard survey methods and may be a useful noninvasive tool for monitoring A. anguilla species distribution.

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