Expansion of the known distribution of the coastal tailed frog, Ascaphus truei, in British Columbia, Canada, using robust eDNA detection methods.

ABSTRACT: The coastal tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) is endemic to the Pacific Northwest of North America and is listed as a species of Special Concern under the Canadian Species at Risk Act. Its range is limited to British Columbia where it occurs widely west of the Coast Mountain Ranges extending north almost to the Alaskan Panhandle. The present study focused on surveying within the Cayoosh, Bridge (Shulaps), Seton, Anderson, Carpenter, and Downton Lake drainages. Four years of previous inventory efforts using conventional time-constrained search (TCS) methods detected tailed frog at 23/292 discrete sites (7.9% detection rate) in seven watersheds. Non-invasive environmental DNA (eDNA) methods hold promise for cryptic and low-abundance species detection. We rigorously validated a quantitative real-t

SUBMITTER: Hobbs J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6417668 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature