title: Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals local fish communities in a species-rich coastal sea.
abstract: Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has emerged as a potentially powerful tool to assess aquatic community structures. However, the method has hitherto lacked field tests that evaluate its effectiveness and practical properties as a biodiversity monitoring tool. Here, we evaluated the ability of eDNA metabarcoding to reveal fish community structures in species-rich coastal waters. High-performance fish-universal primers and systematic spatial water sampling at 47 stations covering ~11 km2revealed the fish community structure at a species resolution. The eDNA metabarcoding based on a 6-h collection of water samples detected 128 fish species, of which 62.5% (40 species) were also observed by underwater visual censuses conducted over a 14-year period. This method also detected other local fishes (≥23 species) that were not observed by the visual censuses. These eDNA metabarcoding features will enhance marine ecosystem-related research, and the method will potentially become a standard tool for surveying fish communities.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Maizuru Fisheries Research Station, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Reiji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.affiliation: Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sado
authors.affiliation: Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Solution Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Ryukoku University, Shiga, Japan.
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kondoh
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Hyogo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Minamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D061006:Bays; D044822:Biodiversity; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics*; D005843:Geography; D007564:Japan; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D004247:DNA