Thesis
Identifying Marine Environmental Factors that Drive Species Richness In Reef Fish Communities in the Gulf of Mexico Using Environmental DNA (eDNA) Metabarcoding
University of West Florida Libraries
Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida
2024
Abstract
The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) has an incredible amount of fish diversity. Due to this, it is crucial to identify the environmental factors that drive species richness in order to maintain
ecosystem resilience and stability. Although the latitudinal gradient is the most fundamental pattern recognized to drive species richness, additional factors like temperature, depth, dissolved oxygen, salinity, habitat area, and habitat complexity are thought to be influential as well. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is a technique that uses eDNA to assess the species richness of an environment. This study used eDNA metabarcoding to identify the environmental factors that drive species richness in reef fish communities in the North, Northeast, and Eastern regions of the GoM. A total of 40 species of fish were detected, of which 34 were identified to species level. Five species were common across all regions and the two species with the highest relative read abundance percentage were Lachnolaimus maximus (Hogfish) and Ephinephelus morio (Red grouper). Species richness was found to increase as temperature and habitat complexity increased and as latitude, longitude, and depth decreased. These results demonstrate that eDNA can be successfully used to detect reef fishes and that it is a suitable technique for detecting cryptic, vulnerable, and endangered species.
Details
- Title
- Identifying Marine Environmental Factors that Drive Species Richness In Reef Fish Communities in the Gulf of Mexico Using Environmental DNA (eDNA) Metabarcoding
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Contributors
- Alexis M Janosik (Committee Chair)Christopher Pomory (Committee Member)Victoria Bogantes Aguilar (Committee Member)
- Publisher
- University of West Florida Libraries
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 51
- Copyright
- © 2024 Delaney H. Harrison-Peters
- Identifiers
- 99380569997006600
- Academic Unit
- Biology
- Language
- English
- Awarding Institution
- Biology; University of West Florida; Master of Science (MS)
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), University of West Florida