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ARPHA Conference Abstracts :
Conference Abstract
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Christine Van der Heyden‡, Lenin Riascos§, Andrea Carrera-Gonzalez|, Katherine Elizabeth Apunte Ramos|, Marcela Carbrera|, Rodrigo Espinosa|, Pieter Boets¶, Tom Moens#, Wim Vanden Berghe¤, Erik Verbruggen¤, Filip Volckaert«, Francisco Villamarin|, Peter Goethals§, Julio Bonilla», Mauricio Ortega|, Jorge Celi||
Corresponding author: Christine Van der Heyden (christine.vanderheyden@hogent.be)
Received: 02 Mar 2021 | Published: 04 Mar 2021
© 2021 Christine Van der Heyden, Lenin Riascos, Andrea Carrera-Gonzalez, Katherine Elizabeth Apunte Ramos, Marcela Carbrera, Rodrigo Espinosa, Pieter Boets, Tom Moens, Wim Vanden Berghe, Erik Verbruggen, Filip Volckaert, Francisco Villamarin, Peter Goethals, Julio Bonilla, Mauricio Ortega, Jorge Celi
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:
Van der heyden C, Riascos L, Carrera-Gonzalez A, Apunte Ramos KE, Carbrera M, Espinosa R, Boets P, Moens T, Vanden Berghe W, Verbruggen E, Volckaert F, Villamarin F, Goethals P, Bonilla J, Ortega M, Celi J (2021) DNA-based monitoring for assessing the effect of invasive species on aquatic communities in the Amazon basin of Ecuador. ARPHA Conference Abstracts 4: e65376. https://doi.org/10.3897/aca.4.e65376
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Abstract
Ecuador is well-known as one of the most biodiverse countries, but this species richness is being threatened by invasive alien species. The early detection of these invasive species is crucial for their fast and successful eradication and for limiting their effects on aquatic communities. Therefore, a Belgian VLIR-UOS project was started that aims at the development of a fast detection method to monitor the Ecuadorian Amazon river basin for the presence of invasive fishes, macroinvertebrates and amphibians. An (e)DNA field lab, equipped with miniaturized and portable DNA-processing equipment, such as centrifuges, thermal cyclers, and electrophoresis equipment (MiniPCR), was developed. In the next phase, the Nanopore Next-Generation sequencing (NGS) technique (MinION) will be optimized to enable the eDNA-based biomonitoring of tropical aquatic environments in the field. The fast detection of invasive species may help to prevent their further spread and perhaps even facilitate their eradication, and will promote more effective actions for the conservation of aquatic ecosystems.
Furthermore, new DNA-sequences of amphibians, macroinvertebrates, and fishes are being incorporated into the newly developed Ecuadorian DNA database. We also focus on building and strengthening the capacities of staff and students (Ecuadorian as well as Belgian) through theses, practical courses, field work, trainings and internships.
Keywords
DNA-based biomonitoring, Ecuadorian Amazon River Basin, a field lab, MinION, Invasive species.
Presenting author
Christine Van der heyden
Presented at
1st DNAQUA International Conference (March 9-11, 2021)