Abstract
Quantifying coral reef biodiversity is challenging for cryptofauna and organisms in early life stages. We demonstrate the utility of eDNA metabarcoding as a tool for comprehensively evaluating invertebrate communities on complex 3D structures for reef reformation, and the role these structures play in provisioning habitat for organisms. 3D design and printing were used to create 18 complex tiles, which were used to form artificial reef structures. eDNA was collected from scraping tile surfaces for organismal biomass and from seawater samples around the artificial reefs in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba, Red Sea. Metabarcoding targeted the mitochondrial COI gene with specific primers for marine biodiversity. We provide the first eDNA biodiversity baseline for the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba, capturing extensive information on species abundance, richness, and diversity. Tile tops had higher phylogenetic diversity and richness, despite a higher abundance of organisms on tile bottoms, highlighting the detection of cryptic organisms with eDNA. We recommend eDNA metabarcoding for reef restoration initiatives, especially for complex marine structures, to improve success and evaluation of biodiversity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 159051 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Science of the Total Environment |
| Volume | 856 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 15 Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022
Funding
We would like to thank the staff and students at the Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat for their generosity and assistance. Moty Ohevia for the construction of our steel-frames. Asaph Rivlin, Raz Tamir, Emanuel Sestieri, Ofir Hameiri, Genadi Zalzman, Nahum Sela, Tal Perevolotsky, Liraz Levy, and Gil Koplovitz for the deployment of our structures, assistance in the field, and in the lab. We would like to extend a big thank you to the people who helped in this study including members of the Levy Lab for Molecular Marine Ecology: Inbal Ayalon, Adi Zweifler, Bar Feldman, Yaeli Rosenberg, and Eviatar Weizman. Thank you to the members of the Design-Tech Lab at the Technion Institute of Technology, especially Ofer Berman, Haim Parnas, and Maya Muchawsky Parnas for the design and construction of our 3D printed tiles. Thank you to Orly Yaron, Shmulik Motola, and Yaniv Giman for their expertise with MiSeq sequencing. We would like to give thanks to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority in Eilat who granted us permission to conduct our research. N.L. was supported by the Bar-Ilan University President's Scholarship, the Israeli Ministry of Integration and Aliyah Scholarship , and the Murray Foundation for student research. E.T. was supported by the Polack Fund . This manuscript represents partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Ph.D. thesis for N.L. at the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. We would like to thank the staff and students at the Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat for their generosity and assistance. Moty Ohevia for the construction of our steel-frames. Asaph Rivlin, Raz Tamir, Emanuel Sestieri, Ofir Hameiri, Genadi Zalzman, Nahum Sela, Tal Perevolotsky, Liraz Levy, and Gil Koplovitz for the deployment of our structures, assistance in the field, and in the lab. We would like to extend a big thank you to the people who helped in this study including members of the Levy Lab for Molecular Marine Ecology: Inbal Ayalon, Adi Zweifler, Bar Feldman, Yaeli Rosenberg, and Eviatar Weizman. Thank you to the members of the Design-Tech Lab at the Technion Institute of Technology, especially Ofer Berman, Haim Parnas, and Maya Muchawsky Parnas for the design and construction of our 3D printed tiles. Thank you to Orly Yaron, Shmulik Motola, and Yaniv Giman for their expertise with MiSeq sequencing. We would like to give thanks to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority in Eilat who granted us permission to conduct our research. N.L. was supported by the Bar-Ilan University President's Scholarship, the Israeli Ministry of Integration and Aliyah Scholarship, and the Murray Foundation for student research. E.T. was supported by the Polack Fund. This manuscript represents partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Ph.D. thesis for N.L. at the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
| Funders |
|---|
| Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat |
| Israel Nature and Parks Authority in Eilat |
| Israeli Ministry of Integration and Aliyah Scholarship |
| Levy Lab for Molecular Marine Ecology |
| Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University |
| Murray Foundation |
| Polack Fund |
| Technion-Israel Institute of Technology |
Keywords
- Artificial reefs
- Biodiversity enhancement
- Coral reef restoration
- Ecosystem monitoring
- Evaluation tools
- Scaling-up restoration
- eDNA
