GUELTA: Challenges for assessing vertebrate diversity in turbid Saharan water-bodies using environmental DNA

ABSTRACT: The Sahara desert is the largest warm desert in the world and a poorly explored area. Small water-bodies occur across the desert and are crucial habitats for vertebrate biodiversity. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a powerful tool for species detection and is being increasingly used to conduct biodiversity assessments. However, there are a number of difficulties with sampling eDNA from such turbid water-bodies and it is often not feasible to rely on electrical tools in remote desert environments. We trialled a manually-powered filtering method in Mauritania, using pre-filtration to circumvent problems posed by turbid water in remote arid areas. From nine vertebrate species expected in the water-bodies, four were detected visually, two via metabarcoding and one via both methods. Difficulties fi

SUBMITTER: bastian egeter 

PROVIDER: S-BSST253 | biostudies-other |

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJEB31357

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other