An Easy Phylogenetically Informative Method to Trace the Globally Invasive Potamopyrgus Mud Snail from River’s eDNA

Abstract

Potamopyrgus antipodarum (New Zealand mud snail) is a prosobranch mollusk native to New Zealand with a wide invasive distribution range. Its non-indigenous populations are reported from Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. Being an extremely tolerant species, Potamopyrgus is capable to survive in a great range of salinity and temperature conditions, which explains its high invasiveness and successful spread outside the native range. Here we report the first finding of Potamopyrgus antipodarum in a basin of the Cantabrian corridor in North Iberia (Bay of Biscay, Spain). Two haplotypes already described in Europe were found in different sectors of River Nora (Nalon basin), suggesting the secondary introductions from earlier established invasive populations. To enhance the surveillance of the species and tracking its further spread in the region, we developed a specific set of primers for the genus Potamopyrgus that amplify a fragment of 16S rDNA. The sequences obtained from PCR on DNA extracted from tissue and water samples (environmental DNA, eDNA) were identical in each location, suggesting clonal reproduction of the introduced individuals. Multiple introduction events from different source populations were inferred from our sequence data. The eDNA tool developed here can serve for tracing New Zealand mud snail populations outside its native range, and for inventorying mud snail population assemblages in the native settings if high throughput sequencing methodologies are employed.

Public knowledge of alien species: a case study on aquatic biodiversity in North Iberian rivers

“…On the other hand, molecular methods, such as environmental DNA (eDNA), have been recently developed for the early detection of exotic species (Clusa et al, 2016;Ficetola, Miaud, Pompanon, & Taberlet, 2008;Thomsen & Willerslev, 2015).…”

Matching a snail’s pace: Successful use of environmental DNA techniques to detect early stages of invasion by the destructive New Zealand mud snail

“…A future study comparing genotypes of this new invasive population at PA27 to other nearby NZMS populations may be able to identify the source populations (Clusa et al 2016) and address the possibility of DNA drift influencing detectability at PA27. In particular, finding that the genotypes of eDNA detected at PA27 match both the Spring Creek population upstream and the individuals found physically at PA27 would mean that we could not formally rule out a scenario where we had detected drifting DNA from a different site.…”

eDNA for detection of five highly invasive molluscs. A case study in urban rivers from the Iberian Peninsula

“…The design and validation of taxon-specific primers was based on the methodology described by Clusa et al . [ 39 ] and Ardura et al . [ 37 ].…”

“…The techniques are becoming cheaper, are non-invasive, highly sensitive, independent of weather conditions for sampling, and may help to control target species [ 35 ]. There are several examples of molluscs' detection using eDNA from European waters, both invasive species such as Rangia cuneata [ 36 ], Dreissena polymorpha [ 37 ], Xenostrobus securis [ 38 ], Potamopyrgus antipodarum [ 39 ] and locally endangered natives like Margaritifera margaritifera [ 40 ].…”