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Conference Abstract
A roadmap for integrating eDNA in Australian marine park monitoring
expand article info Maarten De Brauwer ‡
‡ CSIRO, Hobart, Australia
Corresponding author: Maarten De Brauwer (maarten.debrauwer@csiro.au)
Received: 01 Mar 2021 | Published: 04 Mar 2021
© 2021 Maarten De Brauwer
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: De Brauwer M (2021) A roadmap for integrating eDNA in Australian marine park monitoring. ARPHA Conference Abstracts 4: e65257. https://doi.org/10.3897/aca.4.e65257
 Open Access

Abstract

Australia has one of the world’s largest marine park estates. At 3.3 million km2, it spans an area three times larger than Germany, France, and the UK combined. Managing and monitoring such a vast and often remote area is logistically challenging and expensive. Current monitoring of Australian parks is decentralised and depends on traditional survey methods. As a result, real-time data on the state of Australia’s marine parks is incomplete, hampering effective management. Environmental DNA has been suggested as a potential solution to some of these challenges, but practical large-scale applications remain largely lacking in Australia. To overcome this, we are developing a roadmap towards integrating eDNA methods in marine park monitoring. We present an overview of the current state of marine monitoring in Australia marine, identify the aspects of bio-monitoring that eDNA can best contribute to, and suggest pathways towards best practice use of eDNA for resource managers in Australia and globally.

Keywords

Environmental DNA; Marine parks; Management; Monitoring

Presenting author

Maarten De Brauwer

Presented at

1st DNAQUA International Conference (March 9-11, 2021)