Aquatic eDNA
Are you interested in aquatic eDNA?
The Rutgers eDNA lab supports and implements eDNA surveys for freshwater and marine organisms, including assay development. We generally follow published best-practice methods for these projects. If you are interested in these methods, Dr. Karen Goldberg’s lab at Washington State University has curated an excellent website for digging deeper into collection protocols, assay development, and workflows for freshwater eDNA surveys. For eDNA surveys in estuaries, we recommend the University of New Hampshire and the National Estuarine Research Reserve system page for advice and materials. Finally, we highly recommend checking out EcoDNA, an Australian team dedicated to eDNA research and applications. All of these websites are regularly updated and we have found them very helpful for our own work.
Karen Goldberg’s group: eDNA Resources UNH and NERRs: Estuaries eDNA University of Canberra: EcoDNA
DNA shed by organisms in aqueous environments becomes suspended and dispersed throughout the water column. By simply pumping a sample of water through a fine filter, this free eDNA can be aggregated onto a single filter surface. These methods are easy to deploy and can detect the presence of a wide variety of species, all without the need to capture and handle individuals or invest in large, time intensive field surveys.
Our lab uses well-established techniques to successfully detect the presence of specific organisms in freshwater ecosystems. These organisms range from native species that are of conservation or commercial interest, to newly introduced, invasive species.
The rich biodiversity of estuaries can be efficiently described using eDNA surveys, like those used by the National Estuarine Research Reserves. Collecting water samples using buckets or bottles aggregates the DNA shed from estuarine species suspended in the water column onto a filter.
Estuarine ecosystems like marsh pools are subject to tidal cycles, which may affect the concentration or composition of suspended DNA within them. Our lab is currently working to determine the extent to which tidal cycles can influence the range of species detected by eDNA surveys.