biodiversity monitoring
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2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Stefanni ◽  
Luca Mirimin ◽  
David Stanković ◽  
Damianos Chatzievangelou ◽  
Lucia Bongiorni ◽  
...  

Deep-sea ecosystems are reservoirs of biodiversity that are largely unexplored, but their exploration and biodiscovery are becoming a reality thanks to biotechnological advances (e.g., omics technologies) and their integration in an expanding network of marine infrastructures for the exploration of the seas, such as cabled observatories. While still in its infancy, the application of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding approaches is revolutionizing marine biodiversity monitoring capability. Indeed, the analysis of eDNA in conjunction with the collection of multidisciplinary optoacoustic and environmental data, can provide a more comprehensive monitoring of deep-sea biodiversity. Here, we describe the potential for acquiring eDNA as a core component for the expanding ecological monitoring capabilities through cabled observatories and their docked Internet Operated Vehicles (IOVs), such as crawlers. Furthermore, we provide a critical overview of four areas of development: (i) Integrating eDNA with optoacoustic imaging; (ii) Development of eDNA repositories and cross-linking with other biodiversity databases; (iii) Artificial Intelligence for eDNA analyses and integration with imaging data; and (iv) Benefits of eDNA augmented observatories for the conservation and sustainable management of deep-sea biodiversity. Finally, we discuss the technical limitations and recommendations for future eDNA monitoring of the deep-sea. It is hoped that this review will frame the future direction of an exciting journey of biodiscovery in remote and yet vulnerable areas of our planet, with the overall aim to understand deep-sea biodiversity and hence manage and protect vital marine resources.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton M. Potapov ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Maria J.I. Briones ◽  
George Brown ◽  
Erin Cameron ◽  
...  

Here we introduce the Soil BON Foodweb Team, a cross-continental collaborative network that aims to monitor soil animal communities and food webs using consistent methodology at a global scale. Soil animals support vital soil processes via soil structure modification, direct consumption of dead organic matter, and interactions with microbial and plant communities. Soil animal effects on ecosystem functions have been demonstrated by correlative analyses as well as in laboratory and field experiments, but these studies typically focus on selected animal groups or species at one or few sites with limited variation in environmental conditions. The lack of comprehensive harmonised large-scale soil animal community data including microfauna, mesofauna, and macrofauna, in conjunction with related soil functions, limits our understanding of biological interactions in soil communities and how these interactions affect ecosystem functioning. To provide such data, the Soil BON Foodweb Team invites researchers worldwide to use a common methodology to address six long-term goals: (1) to collect globally representative harmonised data on soil micro-, meso-, and macrofauna communities; (2) to describe key environmental drivers of soil animal communities and food webs; (3) to assess the efficiency of conservation approaches for the protection of soil animal communities; (4) to describe soil food webs and their association with soil functioning globally; (5) to establish a global research network for soil biodiversity monitoring and collaborative projects in related topics; (6) to reinforce local collaboration networks and expertise and support capacity building for soil animal research around the world. In this paper, we describe the vision of the global research network and the common sampling protocol to assess soil animal communities and advocate for the use of standard methodologies across observational and experimental soil animal studies. We will use this protocol to conduct soil animal assessments and reconstruct soil food webs on the sites included in the global soil biodiversity monitoring network, Soil BON, allowing us to assess linkages among soil biodiversity, vegetation, soil physico-chemical properties, and ecosystem functions. In the present paper, we call for researchers especially from countries and ecoregions that remain underrepresented in the majority of soil biodiversity assessments to join us. Together we will be able to provide science-based evidence to support soil biodiversity conservation and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems.


Author(s):  
J. Wolfgang Wägele ◽  
Paul Bodesheim ◽  
Sarah J. Bourlat ◽  
Joachim Denzler ◽  
Michael Diepenbroek ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-171
Author(s):  
Jaime R. Rau ◽  
Carlos Oyarzún ◽  
Jonnathan Vilugrón ◽  
Jaime A. Cursach ◽  
Claudio N. Tobar ◽  
...  

The Lafken Mapu Lahual Coastal Marine Protected Area of Multiple Uses (Lafken Mapu Lahual), Osorno coast, southern Chile, is one of the first protected areas created in Chile during 2006, but only in 2019 its Management Plan was presented. This study provides information on its marine mammal species to be used in future biodiversity monitoring plans. The sighted mammals were recorded and counted through 18 navigation tracks and one observation point in the 2014-2015 austral breeding season. Five species were recorded systematically (one whale species, two dolphin species, one marine otter species and a one sea lion species). Two of them (Lontra felina and Balaenoptera musculus) are classified by the IUCN in the conservation category corresponding to Endangered. Laken Mapu Lahual is an important area for the species of whales that use it for their migratory route to the south of Chile.


Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Dede Aulia Rahman ◽  
Andre Bonardo Yonathan Sitorus ◽  
Aryo Adhi Condro

Biodiversity monitoring is crucial in tackling defaunation in the Anthropocene, particularly in tropical ecosystems. However, field surveys are often limited by habitat complexity, logistical constraints, financing and detectability. Hence, leveraging drones technology for species monitoring is required to overcome the caveats of conventional surveys. We investigated prospective methods for wildlife monitoring using drones in four ecosystems. We surveyed waterbird populations in Pulau Rambut, a community of ungulates in Baluran and endemic non-human primates in Gunung Halimun-Salak, Indonesia in 2021 using a DJI Matrice 300 RTK and DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual with additional thermal sensors. We then, consecutively, implemented two survey methods at three sites to compare the efficacy of drones against traditional ground survey methods for each species. The results show that drone surveys provide advantages over ground surveys, including precise size estimation, less disturbance and broader area coverage. Moreover, heat signatures helped to detect species which were not easily spotted in the radiometric imagery, while the detailed radiometric imagery allowed for species identification. Our research also demonstrates that machine learning approaches show a relatively high performance in species detection. Our approaches prove promising for wildlife surveys using drones in different ecosystems in tropical forests.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert-Jan Jeunen ◽  
Jasmine S Cane ◽  
Sara Ferreira ◽  
Francesca Strano ◽  
Ulla von Ammon ◽  
...  

Aquatic environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys are transforming how we monitor marine ecosystems. The time-consuming pre-processing step of active filtration, however, remains a bottleneck. Hence, new approaches omitting active filtration are in great demand. One exciting prospect is to use the filtering power of invertebrates to collect eDNA. While proof-of-concept has been achieved, comparative studies between aquatic and filter feeder eDNA signals are lacking. Here, we investigated the differences among four eDNA sources (water; bivalves; sponges; and ethanol in which filter-feeding organisms were stored) along a vertical transect in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand using three metabarcoding primers (fish (16S); MiFish-E/U). While concurrent SCUBA diver observations validated eDNA results, laboratory trials corroborated in-field bivalve eDNA detection results. Combined, eDNA sources detected 59 vertebrates, while divers observed eight fish species. There were no significant differences in alpha and beta diversity between water and sponge eDNA and both sources were highly correlated. Vertebrate eDNA was detected in ethanol, although only a reduced number of species were detected. Bivalves failed to reliably detect eDNA in both field and mesocosm experiments. While additional research into filter feeder eDNA accumulation efficiency is essential, our results provide strong evidence for the potential of incorporating sponges into eDNA surveys.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine McNamara Manning ◽  
Christie A. Bahlai

1.SummaryAll approaches to biodiversity monitoring have inherent biases in the taxa captured, yet, as environments, sampling goals, and conventions vary, it is not uncommon for sampling approaches to be customized to reflect the study objectives, optimizing findings to be locally relevant but at the cost of transferability. Here, we developed a calibration study to directly examine how researcher trap choice affects observations made in insect biodiversity sampling. Sampling efficiency of four types of traps: pitfalls, yellow ramp traps, a novel jar ramp trap, and yellow sticky cards, were compared with respect to an array of biodiversity metrics associated with the arthropods they captured. We found that trapping efficiency and functional groups of arthropods (flying versus ground-crawling) varied by trap type. Pitfalls and jar ramp traps performed similarly for all biodiversity metrics measured, suggesting that jar ramp traps provide a more comparable measurement of ground-crawling arthropod communities to pitfall sampling than the yellow ramp traps and should be considered when pitfall sampling cannot be used. This study illustrates the implications for biodiversity sampling of arthropods in environments with physical constraints on trapping, and the importance of directly comparing adapted methods to established sampling protocol. Future biodiversity monitoring schemes should conduct calibration experiments to provide important information on performance and potential limitations of sampling methodology.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1223
Author(s):  
Pritam Banerjee ◽  
Gobinda Dey ◽  
Caterina M. Antognazza ◽  
Raju Kumar Sharma ◽  
Jyoti Prakash Maity ◽  
...  

Recently developed non-invasive environmental DNA-based (eDNA) techniques have enlightened modern conservation biology, propelling the monitoring/management of natural populations to a more effective and efficient approach, compared to traditional surveys. However, due to rapid-expansion of eDNA, confusion in terminology and collection/analytical pipelines can potentially jeopardize research progression, methodological standardization, and practitioner adoption in several ways. Present investigation reflects the developmental progress of eDNA (sensu stricto) including highlighting the successful case studies in conservation management. The eDNA technique is successfully relevant in several areas of conservation research (invasive/conserve species detection) with a high accuracy and authentication, which gradually upgrading modern conservation approaches. The eDNA technique related bioinformatics (e.g., taxon-specific-primers MiFish, MiBird, etc.), sample-dependent methodology, and advancement of sequencing technology (e.g., oxford-nanopore-sequencing) are helping in research progress. The investigation shows that the eDNA technique is applicable largely in (i) early detection of invasive species, (ii) species detection for conservation, (iii) community level biodiversity monitoring, (iv) ecosystem health monitoring, (v) study on trophic interactions, etc. Thus, the eDNA technique with a high accuracy and authentication can be applicable alone or coupled with traditional surveys in conservation biology. However, a comprehensive eDNA-based monitoring program (ecosystem modeling and function) is essential on a global scale for future management decisions.


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