Novel environmental DNA methods for monitoring the population genetics of an invasive species

Session: Application of Genomic Tools to Inform Management of the Great Lakes (5)

Kara Andres, Cornell University, kja68@cornell.edu
Suresh Sethi, Cornell University, suresh.sethi@cornell.edu
David Lodge, Cornell University, dml356@cornell.edu
Jose Andres, Cornell University, jaa53@cornell.edu

Abstract

Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods are well established for detecting species presence and biodiversity, yet little research has been conducted using these methods to obtain population-level genetic information on aquatic species. In this study, we developed an approach using eDNA methods to detect intraspecific diversity at multiple nuclear microsatellite markers in an invasive species and compared these methods to traditional tissue-derived genetic estimates in mesocosm experiments and field collections. Microsatellite allele frequencies from eDNA accurately reflected allele frequencies from genotyped round goby tissue samples, indicating population genetic parameters can be reliably estimated with eDNA methods. This study is the first to document the application of eDNA and multiple amplicon-based methods to obtain intraspecific nuclear genetic information from environmental samples. Such an approach has the potential to revolutionize our ability to characterize populations where conventional sampling strategies may be biased or cost-prohibitive, and broadens the application of eDNA methodologies to inform population-level management objectives.

Twitter handle of presenter
@kara_andres