Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 4;16(11):e0253104. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253104. eCollection 2021.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is an increasingly important tool for surveying biodiversity in marine ecosystems. However, the scale of temporal and spatial variability in eDNA signatures, and how this variation may impact eDNA-based marine biodiversity assessments, remains uncertain. To address this question, we systematically examined variation in vertebrate eDNA signatures across depth (0 m to 10 m) and horizontal space (nearshore kelp forest and surf zone) over three successive days in Southern California. Across a broad range of teleost fish and elasmobranchs, results showed significant variation in species richness and community assemblages between surface and depth, reflecting microhabitat depth preferences of common Southern California nearshore rocky reef taxa. Community assemblages between nearshore and surf zone sampling stations at the same depth also differed significantly, consistent with known habitat preferences. Additionally, assemblages also varied across three sampling days, but 69% of habitat preferences remained consistent. Results highlight the sensitivity of eDNA in capturing fine-scale vertical, horizontal, and temporal variation in marine vertebrate communities, demonstrating the ability of eDNA to capture a highly localized snapshot of marine biodiversity in dynamic coastal environments.
环境 DNA（eDNA）宏条形码技术是一种越来越重要的海洋生态系统生物多样性调查工具。然而，eDNA 特征的时空可变性的规模，以及这种变化如何影响基于 eDNA 的海洋生物多样性评估，仍然不确定。为了解决这个问题，我们在加利福尼亚南部系统地研究了三个连续日中沿深度（0 米至 10 米）和水平空间（近岸巨藻林和冲浪区）的脊椎动物 eDNA 特征的变化。在广泛的硬骨鱼类和软骨鱼类范围内，结果表明，在表面和深度之间，物种丰富度和群落组合存在显著差异，反映了常见的加利福尼亚南部近岸岩石礁类群对微生境深度的偏好。在相同深度的近岸和冲浪区采样站之间的群落组合也存在显著差异，这与已知的栖息地偏好一致。此外，群落也随三个采样日而变化，但 69%的栖息地偏好保持一致。研究结果突出了 eDNA 捕捉海洋脊椎动物群落中细微的垂直、水平和时间变化的敏感性，表明 eDNA 有能力在动态沿海环境中捕捉海洋生物多样性的高度本地化快照。
