Biodiversity Composition Map of California Derived from Environmental DNA
A BIODIVERSITY COMPOSITION MAP OF CALIFORNIA DERIVED FROM ENVIRONMENTAL DNA METABARCODING AND EARTH OBSERVATION
Presenter: Meixi Lin - Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles
California's ecosystems are under threat from ongoing anthropogenic environmental change. Effective conservation management requires more thorough biodiversity surveys that can reveal system-level patterns and that can be applied rapidly across space and time. Taking advantages of modern ecological models, we integrate environmental DNA and Earth observations to evaluate regional biodiversity patterns for a snapshot of time, and provide critical community-level characterization. As part of the CALeDNA efforts, we collected 278 samples in spring 2017 from coastal, shrub and lowland forest sites in California. 16,118 taxonomic entries recovered were associated with environmental variables to test their predictive strength on alpha, beta, and zeta diversity. Local habitat classification was diagnostic of community composition, representing a characteristic of biodiversity hotspots. With gradient forest models, environmental variables predicted 35% of the variance in eDNA patterns at the family level, with elevation, sand percentage, and greenness (NDVI32) as the top predictors. We also found a positive relationship between environmentally predicted families and their numbers of biotic interactions. Our study provides the first example of integrating citizen science-based eDNA with biodiversity mapping, with promises to produce large scale, high-resolution assessments that promote a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence biodiversity.
Recorded at the 2020 California Aquatic Bioassessment Workgroup.
www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/bioassessment/cabw.html
CALeDNA (California Environmental DNA) https://ucedna.com/