engleski

Testing the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for studying groundwater biodiversity

Subterranean habitats are among the least explored environments on our planet and their fauna remains inadequately known. Fortunately, the rapid development of methods in modern biology can help expand our understanding of cave biodiversity. We tested the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) to identify subterranean communities in Plitvice Lakes National Park. This is a complex karst area with many rivers, streams, lakes, and springs, but with limited access to groundwater. We combined classical sampling of cave fauna in the broader region of the Park with 18S and COI metabarcoding of 2 caves and 9 springs in or near the Park. The eDNA metabarcoding approach identified a much greater diversity of species and groups than classical sampling methods. Most interestingly, using eDNA, we detected a cave leech (identified as Croatobranchus mestrovi), a cave bivalve (Congeria sp.), and fishes of the genus Telestes, none of which were previously reported from this region. If confirmed, these results will greatly improve our understanding of the distribution of these species and help us in our conservation efforts. However, the metabarcoding approach did not detect species that we had collected with classical sampling, and it had a significant amount of noise and potential contamination. We can conclude that eDNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool for characterizing subsurface communities, especially in areas where sampling is limited, but it must be done with multiple controls and the results must be interpreted very carefully. In the future, the utility of this method will continue to increase as the databases and bioinformatics tools used to identify sequences become more developed.

environmental DNA ; metabarcoding ; groundwater biodiversity ; Plitvice Lakes National Park

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