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Thesis
Characterizing reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico using environmental DNA metabarcoding
University of West Florida,
Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida
2021
Abstract
A wide range of environmental pressures and anthropogenic stressors, such as overfishing, climate change, and coastal development, have negatively affected fish communities in the Gulf of Mexico, specifically reef fish inhabiting natural or artificial reefs. Fish communities in the Gulf of Mexico vary both spatially and temporally due to movements in the water column, migrations, and environmental pressures making conventional survey sampling challenging to perform. Conventional methods can often be costly, time-consuming and invasive to the target organism. A possible resolution to overcome these challenges to inventory reef fish species lies with environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding. Water samples were collected from artificial and natural reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. The 12s rRNA mitochondrial gene was amplified using elasmobranch and MiFish primers. Only elasmobranch primers were able to provide valuable reads. Amplicon libraries generated by PCR were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq. Environmental DNA metabarcoding revealed 4 reef-associated species out of 12 detected species, the Rough scad (Trachurus lathami), Sand diver (Synodus intermedius), Pearly razorfish (Xyrichtys novacula) and the invasive Lionfish (Pterois spp.). Fish species detections across nine sites were grouped by habitat and IUCN status. Surface and benthic fish detections were grouped by temperature and salinity. A generalized linear model and linear regression were used to test for correlation. This project demonstrates the utility of eDNA and metabarcoding as a valuable tool for characterization of reef fish species in the Gulf of Mexico.
Details
- Title
- Characterizing reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico using environmental DNA metabarcoding
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Publisher
- University of West Florida,; [Pensacola, Florida] :
- Format
- text;electronic resource;remote;computer;online resource
- Number of pages
- 1 online resource (vii, 51 leaves : illustrations, maps, charts)
- Copyright
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
- Identifiers
- 99380090734706600
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- University of West Florida; Master of Science (MS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida