Tracking the Recovery of Freshwater Mussel Diversity in Ontario Rivers: Evaluation of a Quadrat-Based Monitoring Protocol

Reid, Scott M.; Morris, Todd J.

doi:10.3390/d9010005

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Apart from live adults, eDNA can arise from fresh shells, sediment resuspension, gametes, or larvae; these alternative sources of eDNA could affect eDNA detection patterns. Future studies should directly compare eDNA sampling with other traditional mussel‐sampling methods, such as timed searches (Reid, ; Reid & Morris, ), which have been shown to be more sensitive than quadrat sampling for species detection (Vaughn, Taylor, & Eberhard, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…eDNA was sampled from four rivers in south‐western Ontario and two rivers in eastern Ontario (parentheses indicate number of unionid species present): the Ausable River (24), Grand River (32), Sydenham River (35), Thames River (35), Trent River (12), and Lyn Creek (5) (Figure ). Mussel assemblages at the south‐western sites had been previously characterized by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; Reid & Morris, ; T. Morris, unpubl. data) or the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA; Upsdell, Veliz, & Jean, ) using intensive quadrat based methods to monitor long‐term changes in mussel assemblages.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water samples were collected at 18 established mussel monitoring sites, all of which were previously defined and selected for monitoring based on their significant mussel abundance and diversity (Metcalfe‐Smith, McGoldrick, Zanatta, & Grapentine, ; Reid & Morris, ). These sites were selected to include a variety of target‐species presences, absences, and co‐occurrences; when possible, sites with high and low target species abundances were also included.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Validation of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a detection tool for at‐risk freshwater pearly mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae)

Currier

Morris

Wilson

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. Documenting the occurrence and habitat occupancy of rare aquatic species is an ongoing challenge for conservation. Characterization of environmental DNA (eDNA) from bulk water samples has emerged as a powerful tool to infer species presence or absence without the need to observe or handle organisms.2. Previous eDNA studies have yet to develop species-specific markers that target taxa with many potentially sympatric confamilials. Forty-one freshwater pearly mussel species (Unionidae) are found in southern Ontario, Canada, with many of these listed as threatened, endangered, or of conservation concern; however, locating populations for protection can be challenging owing to morphological crypsis and species scarcity.3. Species-specific eDNA markers were developed to target four unionid species. Following in silico and in vitro validation, markers were validated in the field by comparing eDNA results from water samples to detections based on quadrat sampling. 4. Target species were detected by eDNA sampling at all sites where they had previously been located by quadrat sampling. 5. The paired sampling design showed that species-specific markers can be designed even within speciose families, and that eDNA detection of mussels is at least as sensitive as quadrat sampling. Furthermore, detection probabilities were not affected by sampling depth, and eDNA concentrations were positively correlated with mussel densities. 6. These findings confirm that eDNA assays are a valuable complement to traditional methods for locating and managing imperilled unionid populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Validation of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a detection tool for at‐risk freshwater pearly mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae)

Currier

Morris

Wilson

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…temperature and substrate), will largely determine the detectability of mussels during surveys, and thus has to be considered when designing survey guidelines. Sampling effort will have to increase substantially, compared with commonly used search efforts, to enable accurate estimates of densities and dynamic growth rates of populations of rare species or species that remain predominantly burrowed in the sediment (Reid, 2016; Reid & Morris, 2017; Smith, 2006; Smith et al, 2010; Strayer & Smith, 2003). Understanding the seasonal and habitat constraints on the potential detectability of mussel species is critical for conservation managers when developing appropriate sampling protocols to ensure that accurate information on species distribution and abundance is obtained.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burrowing behaviour of unionid mussels in subtropical rivers: Implications for survey guidelines

Hernandez

Mitchell

Robertson

et al. 2021

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conservation efforts have increased in response to global mussel declines, and effective surveys are a crucial step in assessing and monitoring mussel populations and in determining their conservation status. The burrowing behaviour of mussels can affect their detectability, and a better understanding of these behaviours would help to improve survey design and guidelines. The burrowing depth of mussels may differ between seasons, habitat conditions, species, and individuals, and little is known about the burrowing behaviour of mussels in subtropical rivers. Burrowing depth variation was examined and compared at three sites in the San Marcos, Guadalupe, and San Antonio river drainages in central Texas. In addition, laboratory experiments were used to determine whether observed differences between field sites and seasons could be linked to differences in substrate type and water temperature and to examine differences between species. Seasonal variation in burrowing depth was found at all field sites, and water temperature was a significant factor for explaining variation in burrowing depth, but there was no clear relationship between burrowing depth and temperature in shorter term laboratory experiments, where individual variation was high and burrowing behaviour seemed to be solely a function of time. Mussels burrowed significantly deeper in finer substrate (sand vs. gravel) in both field and laboratory experiments. Few significant differences between species were found in the field, but no differences were found in the laboratory experiments. The results suggest that surveys may need to follow different guidelines depending on local conditions, such as substrate and water temperature. Surveys will be less efficient and may fail to detect larger proportions of populations in colder water temperatures. In addition, a larger proportion of burrowed mussels can be expected at sites with finer substrate, such as sand. Under these conditions, visual searches will not suffice, as a large part of the population or specific species may be overlooked.

show abstract

“…Sampling waterbodies with well-characterized mussel communities enabled direct comparison of species detections from eDNA metabarcoding with those from long-term field surveys. Although we did not conduct concurrent physical surveys, the existing species assemblage data provided strong reference points for which species were likely to have recently shed DNA into each of those sites (Hoffman et al, 2018;Minke-Martin et al, 2015;Morris et al, 2015;Reid et al, 2018;Reid & Morris, 2017;Scott et al, 2020;Sheldon & Morris, 2018;Wright et al, 2017Wright et al, , 2019DFO unpubl. data).…”

Section: Edna Samples From Natural Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community eDNA metabarcoding as a detection tool for documenting freshwater mussel (Unionidae) species assemblages

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Documenting species occurrences and habitat occupancy of unionid mussels can often be challenging. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has been shown to be a reliable tool for detecting unionids with comparable or greater sensitivity than conventional sampling and has the added advantages of not disturbing individuals or occupied habitats.However, single-species eDNA assays are limited to targeting individual species of interest and are functionally blind to the presence of other species. Community eDNA assays have the potential to characterize local species assemblages simultaneously but are currently less extensively developed and implemented than single-species eDNA testing. We tested the effectiveness of community eDNA markers to identify unionid species assemblages, using two overlapping conserved primers that target the maternal mitochondrial 16S rDNA region. Both primer sets were optimized using three mock communities and successfully amplified 62.5%-81.6% of species with largely consistent results between the primer sets. Following optimization, eDNA from water samples from 24 reference sites with known mussel communities was amplified and sequenced to quantify species richness and diversity within and among sites. Metabarcoding results from the monitoring sites largely mirrored those from the mock communities, with >80% of species detections identified by both assays.The results were broadly consistent with species data from quadrat-based manual field surveys, although both community eDNA and conventional sampling detected some species that the other method did not. These results demonstrate that community eDNA assays using conserved primers and next-generation sequencing have the potential to simultaneously target eDNA from multiple unionid species and provide a powerful tool for complementing or augmenting conventional field surveys to characterize and monitor unionid species assemblages.

show abstract

Tracking the Recovery of Freshwater Mussel Diversity in Ontario Rivers: Evaluation of a Quadrat-Based Monitoring Protocol

Cited by 13 publications

References 26 publications

Validation of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a detection tool for at‐risk freshwater pearly mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae)

Validation of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a detection tool for at‐risk freshwater pearly mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae)

Burrowing behaviour of unionid mussels in subtropical rivers: Implications for survey guidelines

Community eDNA metabarcoding as a detection tool for documenting freshwater mussel (Unionidae) species assemblages

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About