DNA metabarcoding as a tool for detecting and characterising the spatio-temporal distribution of planktonic larvae in the phylum Echinodermata

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. The published version of this Preprint is available: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-024-02496-7. This is version 1 of this Preprint.

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Authors

Ilha Byrne, Cynthia Riginos , Dean Brookes, Sven Uthicke, Iva Popovic

Abstract

Metabarcoding is revolutionising the analysis of biodiversity in marine ecosystems, especially as it provides a means of detecting and identifying cryptic life-stages in field samples. The planktonic larval stage of many species underpins the abundance and distribution of adult populations but is challenging to characterise given the small size of larvae and diffuse distributions in pelagic waters. Yet, planktonic larval dynamics are key to understanding phenomena observed in adult populations, such as the boom- and-bust dynamics exhibited by some echinoderms. Rapid changes in echinoderm population density can have significant effects on local benthic ecosystems, for example, outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns seastar (CoTS) on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are responsible for declines in coral cover. Here, we used a DNA metabarcoding approach to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution and diversity of echinoderm larvae on the GBR, including CoTS. Echinoderm larvae were found to exhibit seasonal changes in community composition and richness, consistent with expected fluctuations in larval output based on adult spawning periodicity. Furthermore, this study validates the utility of metabarcoding approaches for the surveillance of CoTS larvae, which could prove useful to future monitoring efforts. Our findings suggest that metabarcoding can be used to better understand the life history of planktonic larvae, and analyses combining environmental (e.g., temperature, nutrients) and oceanographic (e.g., currents) data could deliver valuable information on the factors influencing their spatio-temporal occurrence.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.32942/X2W90S

Subjects

Life Sciences

Keywords

echinoderms, metabarcoding, larvae, eDNA, plankton, crown-of-thorns starfish, crown-of-thorns seastar, eDNA, plankton, larvae, metabarcoding

Dates

Published: 2023-11-22 08:55

Last Updated: 2023-11-22 13:55

License

No Creative Commons license

Additional Metadata

Language:
English

Data and Code Availability Statement:
Raw sequence reads, intermediate files, and code used to process reads, perform analyses and plot figures will be published in the following UQ eSpace repository: https://doi.org/10.48610/3076584.