Yao Meng, Zhang Shan, Lu Qi, Chen Xiaoyu, Zhang Si-Yu, Kong Yueqiao, Zhao Jindong
Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Mol Ecol. 2022 Oct;31(20):5132-5164. doi: 10.1111/mec.16659. Epub 2022 Sep 1.
Vast global declines of freshwater and marine fish diversity and population abundance pose serious threats to both ecosystem sustainability and human livelihoods. Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based biomonitoring provides robust, efficient, and cost-effective assessment of species occurrences and population trends in diverse aquatic environments. Thus, it holds great potential for improving conventional surveillance frameworks to facilitate fish conservation and fisheries management. However, the many technical considerations and rapid developments underway in the eDNA arena can overwhelm researchers and practitioners new to the field. Here, we systematically analysed 416 fish eDNA studies to summarize research trends in terms of investigated targets, research aims, and study systems, and reviewed the applications, rationales, methodological considerations, and limitations of eDNA methods with an emphasis on fish and fisheries research. We highlighted how eDNA technology may advance our knowledge of fish behaviour, species distributions, population genetics, community structures, and ecological interactions. We also synthesized the current knowledge of several important methodological concerns, including the qualitative and quantitative power eDNA has to recover fish biodiversity and abundance, and the spatial and temporal representations of eDNA with respect to its sources. To facilitate ecological applications implementing fish eDNA techniques, recent literature was summarized to generate guidelines for effective sampling in lentic, lotic, and marine habitats. Finally, we identified current gaps and limitations, and pointed out newly emerging research avenues for fish eDNA. As methodological optimization and standardization improve, eDNA technology should revolutionize fish monitoring and promote biodiversity conservation and fisheries management that transcends geographic and temporal boundaries.
全球范围内淡水和海洋鱼类多样性及种群数量的大幅下降，对生态系统可持续性和人类生计均构成严重威胁。基于环境DNA（eDNA）的生物监测能够对不同水生环境中的物种出现情况和种群趋势进行有力、高效且经济高效的评估。因此，它在改进传统监测框架以促进鱼类保护和渔业管理方面具有巨大潜力。然而，eDNA领域众多的技术考量和快速发展可能会让该领域的新手研究人员和从业者应接不暇。在此，我们系统分析了416项鱼类eDNA研究，以从研究对象、研究目的和研究系统方面总结研究趋势，并重点针对鱼类和渔业研究，综述了eDNA方法的应用、原理、方法学考量及局限性。我们强调了eDNA技术如何能够增进我们对鱼类行为、物种分布、种群遗传学、群落结构及生态相互作用的了解。我们还综合了当前关于几个重要方法学问题的认识，包括eDNA在恢复鱼类生物多样性和数量方面的定性和定量能力，以及eDNA相对于其来源的空间和时间表征。为便于在生态应用中实施鱼类eDNA技术，我们总结了近期文献，以生成在静水、流水和海洋栖息地进行有效采样的指南。最后，我们确定了当前的差距和局限性，并指出了鱼类eDNA新出现的研究方向。随着方法学的优化和标准化不断改进，eDNA技术应能彻底变革鱼类监测，并促进跨越地理和时间界限的生物多样性保护及渔业管理。
