RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Message in a Bottle: Archived DNA Reveals Marine Heatwave-Associated Shifts in Fish Assemblages
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.07.27.501788
DO 10.1101/2022.07.27.501788
A1 Zachary Gold
A1 Ryan P. Kelly
A1 Andrew Olaf Shelton
A1 Andrew R. Thompson
A1 Kelly D. Goodwin
A1 Ramón Gallego
A1 Kim M. Parsons
A1 Luke R. Thompson
A1 Dovi Kacev
A1 Paul H. Barber
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/07/29/2022.07.27.501788.abstract
AB Marine heatwaves can drive large-scale shifts in marine ecosystems but studying their impacts on whole species assemblages can be difficult. Here, we leverage the taxonomic breadth and resolution of DNA sequences derived from environmental DNA (eDNA) in the ethanol of a set of 23-year longitudinal ichthyoplankton samples, combining these with microscopy-derived ichthyoplankton identification to yield higher-resolution, species-specific quantitative abundance estimates of fish assemblages in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem during and after the 2014–16 Pacific marine heatwave. This integrated dataset reveals patterns of tropicalization with increases in southern, mesopelagic species and associated declines in important temperate fisheries targets (e.g., North Pacific Hake (Merluccius productus) and Pacific Sardine (Sardinops sagax)). We observed novel assemblages of southern, mesopelagic fishes and temperate species (e.g., Northern Anchovy, Engraulis mordax) even after the return to average water temperatures. Our innovative preservative derived eDNA metabarcoding and quantitative modeling approaches open the door to reconstructing the historical dynamics of assemblages from modern and archived samples worldwide.Summary Novel quantitative abundance estimates from archived DNA reveals marine heatwave-associated shifts in fish assemblages.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.