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Combining environmental DNA and species distribution modeling to evaluate reintroduction success of a freshwater fish
Author(s) -
Riaz Maria,
Kuemmerlen Mathias,
Wittwer Claudia,
Cocchiararo Berardino,
Khaliq Imran,
Pfenninger Markus,
Nowak Carsten
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-5582
pISSN - 1051-0761
DOI - 10.1002/eap.2034
Subject(s) - environmental dna , biology , ecology , freshwater fish , species distribution , freshwater ecosystem , fish <actinopterygii> , ecosystem , biodiversity , fishery , habitat
Abstract Active species reintroduction is an important conservation tool when aiming for the restoration of biological communities and ecosystems. The effective monitoring of reintroduction success is a crucial factor in this process. Here, we used a combination of environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques and species distribution models (SDMs) to evaluate the success of recent reintroductions of the freshwater fish Alburnoides bipunctatus in central Germany. We built SDMs without and with eDNA presence data to locate further suitable reintroduction sites and potentially overlooked populations of the species. We successfully detected eDNA of A. bipunctatus at all reintroduction sites, as well as several adjacent sites mostly in downstream direction, which supports the success of reintroduction efforts. eDNA‐based species detection considerably improved SDMs for A. bipunctatus , which allowed to identify species presence in previously unknown localities. Our results confirm the usefulness of eDNA techniques as standard tool to monitor reintroduced fish populations. We propose that combining eDNA with SDMs is a highly effective approach for long‐term monitoring of reintroduction success in aquatic species.