2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/21/2019 | 3:15 PM - 3:30 PM | A TALE OF TWO TAXONOMIES: COMPARING MORPHO- AND MOLECULAR TAXONOMY FOR STREAM ALGAL BIOASSESSMENT | 150 G
A TALE OF TWO TAXONOMIES: COMPARING MORPHO- AND MOLECULAR TAXONOMY FOR STREAM ALGAL BIOASSESSMENT
DNA metabarcoding provides a rapid and scalable alternative to traditional morpho-taxonomic approaches for generating taxonomic data for stream algal bioassessment. However, protocols for the generation and analysis of DNA data are not yet standardized and analytical pipeline choices can bias resulting species data and therefore site bioassessment scores.
In an effort to optimize the generation of DNA-based taxonomic data for stream bioassessment, we performed metabarcode sequencing (16S/18S rRNA genes) on 80 algae samples from California wadeable streams. We compared molecular taxonomies to paired morpho-taxonomic data for diatoms and soft-algae and calculated California algal index scores (ASCI) for each site. Additionally, we compared bacteria and archaea communities to algal index scores to identify prokaryote taxa associated with biointegrity and stressor gradients across sites.
We found a clear influence of DNA barcode region on resulting biological index scores. DNA-based index scores were consistent across bioinformatic treatments, although on average lower than morpho-taxonomic scores. Both molecular and morpho-taxonomic approaches omitted key taxa, although with DNA sequencing we identified potential novel indicator species for prokaryote-based indices. These results demonstrate potential of molecular methods to advance bioassessment while also highlighting the importance of methods standardization.
- Bioassessment
- Algae
- Bioindicators
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Presenters/Authors
Susanna Theroux
(), Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, susannat@sccwrp.org;
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Joshua Steele
(), Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, joshuas@sccwrp.org;
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John Griffith
(), Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, johng@sccwrp.org;
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Eric Stein
(), Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, erics@sccwrp.org;
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