SEMINAR: Trawling for barcodes: environmental DNA analysis of fish plankton

Understanding how the physical, chemical and biological attributes of the ocean interact is important because it provides a way to forecast fisheries productivity and the ecosystem effects of climate change. Yet, obtaining high-resolution and accurate taxonomic data on microscopic plankton species over large spatial scales remains a challenge. In this seminar I will illustrate how we are combining DNA analysis of mixed zooplankton samples with particle tracking modelling to map the distribution of the eggs and larvae of dhufish (Glaucosoma hebraicum) in real time. Our approach provides unprecedented efficiency and sensitivity in sample processing, and has the potential to provide new insight into the recruitment dynamics of this at-risk species. I will also discuss how this approach can be extended to simultaneously mapping entire fish and other plankton assemblages at high taxonomic resolution, and to providing species-specific estimates of plankton biomass.