TY - JOUR
T1 - A sensitive environmental DNA (eDNA) assay leads to new insights on Ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua) spread in North America
AU - Tucker, Andrew J.
AU - Chadderton, W. Lindsay
AU - Jerde, Christopher L.
AU - Renshaw, Mark A.
AU - Uy, Karen
AU - Gantz, Crysta
AU - Mahon, Andrew R.
AU - Bowen, Anjanette
AU - Strakosh, Timothy
AU - Bossenbroek, Jonathan M.
AU - Sieracki, Jennifer L.
AU - Beletsky, Dmitry
AU - Bergner, Jennifer
AU - Lodge, David M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this work was provided by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through Cooperative Agreement No. 30181AJ326 between the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the University of Notre Dame and Grant No. NA09NOS4780192 awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (NOAA CSCOR) to the University of Notre Dame, and through Grant No. NA10NOS4780218 awarded by NOAA CSCOR. We thank the USFWS Ashland FWCO for providing Ruffe specimens and J. Baker with the Ohio State Museum of Biological Diversity for providing tissue samples for Percidae species for marker development. M. Hoff, B. Eggold, D. Boyarski, C. Olds, Lake Superior State University Aquatic Research Laboratory, and the Bay Mills Indian Community provided logistical support. We thank the many individuals who provided field and/or lab support. C. Turner, E. Grey, M. Barnes, and B. Olds provided helpful comments in discussing the eDNA results. This is GLERL contribution number 1798.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, The Author(s).
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Detection of invasive species before or soon after they establish in novel environments is critical to prevent widespread ecological and economic impacts. Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance and monitoring is an approach to improve early detection efforts. Here we describe a large-scale conservation application of a quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay with a case study for surveillance of a federally listed nuisance species (Ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernua) in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Using current Ruffe distribution data and predictions of future Ruffe spread derived from a recently developed model of ballast-mediated dispersal in US waters of the Great Lakes, we designed an eDNA surveillance study to target Ruffe at the putative leading edge of the invasion. We report a much more advanced invasion front for Ruffe than has been indicated by conventional surveillance methods and we quantify rates of false negative detections (i.e. failure to detect DNA when it is present in a sample). Our results highlight the important role of eDNA surveillance as a sensitive tool to improve early detection efforts for aquatic invasive species and draw attention to the need for an improved understanding of detection errors. Based on axes that reflect the weight of eDNA evidence of species presence and the likelihood of secondary spread, we suggest a two-dimensional conceptual model that management agencies might find useful in considering responses to eDNA detections.
AB - Detection of invasive species before or soon after they establish in novel environments is critical to prevent widespread ecological and economic impacts. Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance and monitoring is an approach to improve early detection efforts. Here we describe a large-scale conservation application of a quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay with a case study for surveillance of a federally listed nuisance species (Ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernua) in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Using current Ruffe distribution data and predictions of future Ruffe spread derived from a recently developed model of ballast-mediated dispersal in US waters of the Great Lakes, we designed an eDNA surveillance study to target Ruffe at the putative leading edge of the invasion. We report a much more advanced invasion front for Ruffe than has been indicated by conventional surveillance methods and we quantify rates of false negative detections (i.e. failure to detect DNA when it is present in a sample). Our results highlight the important role of eDNA surveillance as a sensitive tool to improve early detection efforts for aquatic invasive species and draw attention to the need for an improved understanding of detection errors. Based on axes that reflect the weight of eDNA evidence of species presence and the likelihood of secondary spread, we suggest a two-dimensional conceptual model that management agencies might find useful in considering responses to eDNA detections.
KW - Aquatic invasive species (AIS)
KW - Early detection
KW - Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)
KW - Surveillance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978127610&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10530-016-1209-z
DO - 10.1007/s10530-016-1209-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84978127610
VL - 18
SP - 3205
EP - 3222
JO - Biological Invasions
JF - Biological Invasions
SN - 1387-3547
IS - 11
ER -