1 Citation 829 Views 58 Downloads
The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) has become an applicable non-invasive
tool with which to obtain information about biodiversity. A sub-discipline
of eDNA is iDNA (invertebrate-derived DNA), where genetic material
ingested by invertebrates is used to characterise the biodiversity of the
species that served as hosts. While promising, these techniques are still
in their infancy, as they have only been explored on limited numbers of
samples from only a single or a few different locations. In this study, we
investigate the suitability of iDNA extracted from more than 3,000
haematophagous terrestrial leeches as a tool for detecting a wide range of
terrestrial vertebrates across five different geographical regions on
three different continents. These regions cover almost the full
geographical range of haematophagous terrestrial leeches, thus
representing all parts of the world where this method might apply. We
identify host taxa through metabarcoding coupled with high-throughput
sequencing on Illumina and IonTorrent sequencing platforms to decrease
economic costs and workload and thereby make the approach attractive for
practitioners in conservation management. We identified hosts in four
different taxonomic vertebrate classes: mammals, birds, reptiles, and
amphibians, belonging to at least 42 different taxonomic families. We find
that vertebrate blood ingested by haematophagous terrestrial leeches
throughout their distribution is a viable source of DNA with which to
examine a wide range of vertebrates. Thus, this study provides encouraging
support for the potential of haematophagous terrestrial leeches as a tool
for detecting and monitoring terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity.
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