Date of Award
2016
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
M.Sc.
Department
Biological Sciences
Supervisor
Heath, Daniel
Supervisor
Mandrak, Nicholas
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Environmental DNA (eDNA) can be extracted from water samples to determine target species presence and location, important for the detection of at-risk species or early invaders. I determined if eDNA can be used to identify the presence and location of target species. I quantified the signal strength of residual eDNA in a flowing system, while the target eDNA source entered the system at a fixed site (i.e. source site). I found that the strongest signals were always at the source site indicating that this method can be used to locate low-abundance species in rivers. I also found that eDNA and next-generation sequencing (NGS) detected 51 of 67 fishes (76.1%) from two large tributaries. Detections included three target species at risk and one target invasive species which contributed to 77.0% of the NGS data, indicating that eDNA and NGS can be used to monitor native communities in highly invaded habitats.
Recommended Citation
Balasingham, Katherine Darshini, "ENVIRONMENTAL DNA DETECTION AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR DELIMITING SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF RARE AND INVASIVE SPECIES, AND ASSESSING COMMUNITY IN FLOWING, FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5720.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/5720
