An environmental DNA metabarcoding survey reveals generic-level occurrence of scleractinian corals at reef slopes of Okinawa Island.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs have the highest biodiversity of all marine ecosystems in tropical and subtropical oceans. However, scleractinian corals, keystone organisms of reef productivity, are facing a crisis due to climate change and anthropogenic activities. A broad survey of reef-building corals is essential for worldwide reef preservation. To this end, direct observations made by coral-specialist divers might be supported by another robust method. We improved a recently devised environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding method to identify more than 43 scleractinian genera by sampling 2 l of surface seawater above reefs. Together with direct observations by divers, we assessed the utility of eDNA at 63 locations spanning approximately 250 km near Okinawa Island. Slopes of these islands are populated by d

SUBMITTER: Nishitsuji K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10050943 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature