eDNA – Environmental Barcoding of Aquatic Invertebrates (EBAI)

DNAqua-Net

Torbjørn Ekrem4. April 2017Leave a comment

The kick-off conference for the EU COST-Action DNAqua-Net was held in the beginning of March 2017. Markus and Torbjørn participated with a poster showing our results from the EBAI eDNA filter preservation experiment (see below).

The conference gathered 172 participants from 37 nations and the impressive line-up of invited speakers communicated the their latest research results on topics relevant to the DNAqua-Net main goal: to develop new genetic tools for bioassessment of aquatic ecosystems in Europe.

Read more about all presentations on the DNAqua-Net website.

We received good feedback on our results and were encouraged to publish these as soon as possible. This we plan to do!

Judgement Day(s) for the common roach in Bymarka

Torbjørn Ekrem20. September 2016Leave a comment

This week, lakes in the Trondheim city forest are treated with rotenone to remove common roach (Rutilus rutilus). We know that all fish will be killed by rotenone, but previous studies indicate that macroinvertebrates in lakes are less affected than previously thought (Arnekleiv et al. 2015). In EBAI we will use eDNA and DNA barcoding of bulk macroinvertebrate samples to see how molecular tools can be used to monitor changes in the invertebrate communities after rotenone treatment. Will we detect a change in the invertebrate community? How long will it take until changes are detected as eDNA in water samples? Time will show.

Boats are used to distribute the rotenone evenly throughout the lake Kyvatnet. Photo: Torbjørn Ekrem cc-by.

Field work in Rondane July 2016

Torbjørn Ekrem19. August 201619. August 2016Leave a comment

The Nedre Dørålseter cabin next to the Rondane National Park in Central Norway. Not a bad place to do field work on a day like this!

In year two of field work for the EBAI-project, we have focused on eDNA and benthic samples at three different stations along the River Atna. By filtering water and analysing DNA from bulk extractions, we want to see how different the diversity of freshwater invertebrates is between stations and if both methods retrieve the same species. As usual, we filtered our water in the field and fixed our 4 min kick samples on ethanol.

Torbjørn sampling water in sterile PET bottles. Will one liter of river water reveal the diversity of macroinvertebrates living here?

Markus filtering water in our mobile lab (click here to see a video). Hikers passing were looked suspiciously and probably wondered what kind of dangerous stuff we were doing.

Elisabeth fixing kick-samples of benthic invertebrates. See here for a video of the actual kicksamplin g.

The second field-sampling trip in EBAI was directed to the Lake Jonsvatn on September 28. We sampled a depth gradient (0.25 m, 2 m, 7.5 m and 15 m) for benthic invertebrates starting from Trondhjems Roklub, and eDNA from water from the Roklub pier. Also, adult flying insects were sampled with a net. Weather conditions were perfect during the second successful field trip, and in addition to the samples, we got nice pictures including the spectacular panorama photo on top of the page.

EBAI-Jonsvatn-28sep15-vannp — Erik is sampling water from the pier. Photo: Torbjørn Ekrem.

EBAI-Jonsvatn-28sep15-brude — Relaxing day in the field (at least for some of us). Photo: Elisabeth Stur.

EBAI-Jonsvatn-28sep15-kapte — Captain Hårsaker leaving the field site (we'll be back). Photo: Torbjørn Ekrem.

Field filtering requires some patience. Photo: Elisabeth Stur.

EBAI-Jonsvatn-28sep15-Marku — Captain Hårsaker leaving the field site (we'll be back). Photo: Torbjørn Ekrem.

Field filtering requires some patience. Photo: Elisabeth Stur.