Recent interest in jellyfish from increased observations of population blooms has highlighted the lack long-term jellyfish monitoring data and the difficulty of conventional sampling. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging and powerful tool for the detection and monitoring of organisms, including rare and invasive species. This highly sensitive methodology can serve as an alternative or compliment to traditional sampling strategies for species that are notoriously difficult to detect. This study tests whether jellyfish eDNA can be successfully detected in Belgian coastal waters by recently developed DNA universal and species-specific primers using a SYBR Green quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. Jellyfish eDNA was successfully detected from water samples and quantified using dilutions of known DNA concentrations. As proof-of-concept, density estimates from eDNA concentration were used to show the potential utility of eDNA as a quantitative sampling strategy. While future considerations are needed for the successful application of eDNA monitoring, this represents the first documented detection of jellyfish eDNA.
Promotor(s) & Supervisor: Colin Janssen, Jana Asselman, Tara Grosemans
Thesis Institute: Environmental Toxicology Unit - GhEnToxLab, Ghent University
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