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Effectiveness assessment of using riverine water eDNA to simultaneously monitor the riverine and riparian biodiversity information
  • +8
  • Haile Yang,
  • Hao Du,
  • Hongfang Qi,
  • Luxian Yu,
  • Xin-Dong Hou,
  • Hui Zhang,
  • Junyi Li,
  • Jinming Wu,
  • Chengyou Wang,
  • Qiong Zhou,
  • Qiwei Wei
Haile Yang
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Hao Du
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Hongfang Qi
The Rescue and Rehabilitation Center of Naked Carps of Qinghai Lake
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Luxian Yu
The Rescue and Rehabilitation Center of Naked Carps of Qinghai Lake
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Xin-Dong Hou
China University of Geosciences
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Hui Zhang
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Junyi Li
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Jinming Wu
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Chengyou Wang
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Qiong Zhou
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Qiwei Wei
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
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Abstract

Both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity information can be detected in riverine water environmental DNA (eDNA). However, whether riverine water eDNA can be used to simultaneously monitor aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity remains unverified. To assess the effectiveness of using riverine water eDNA to simultaneously monitor the riverine and terrestrial biodiversity information, we proposed that the monitoring effectiveness could be approximated by the transportation effectiveness of land-to-river and upstream-to-downstream biodiversity information flows. Subsequently, we conducted a case study in a watershed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The case demonstrated that there was higher monitoring effectiveness on summer or autumn rainy days than in other seasons and weather conditions. The monitoring of the bacterial biodiversity information was more efficient than the monitoring of the eukaryotic biodiversity information. On summer rainy days, 43-76% of species information in riparian sites could be detected in water eDNA samples, 92-99% of species information in riverine sites could be detected in a 1-km downstream eDNA sample, and half of dead bioinformation (i.e., the bioinformation labeling the biological material that lacked life activity and fertility) could be monitored 4-6 km downstream for eukaryotes and 13-19 km downstream for bacteria. In this case, we tested the eDNA monitoring effectiveness assessment framework, in which the land-to-river monitoring effectiveness was indicated by detection probability, and the upstream-to-downstream monitoring effectiveness was described by the detection probability per kilometer runoff distance and by the half-life distance of dead bioinformation. It provided a new and usable tool for designing monitoring projects and for evaluating monitoring results.