Material Information

Title:
Reoptimizing an eDNA assay specific to painted turtles that can later be applied to species of conservation concern
Creator:
Lillian Pavord
Peter Rosenbaum
Nicholas Sard

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
conservation
eDNA

Notes

Abstract:
Freshwater turtle populations are being increasingly diminished due to the destruction and fragmentation of wetlands. It is vitally important that we monitor the abundance and distribution of endangered and threatened species. When a species is rare and evasive by nature, eDNA assays can be used to survey them in a system. We also used occupancy modeling to develop our sampling scheme. Because our model indicated that a wider variety of detection probabilities had better occupancy estimates when more water samples we taken, we decided to take forty 1 L water samples from Rice Creek Pond instead of thirty to test for painted turtle presence. Using PCR primers that were previously designed to be species specific for the painted turtle (which is not endangered and is native to Rice Creek), we can develop an eDNA assay protocol that can later be applied to species of conservation concern. We tested these primers in silico and in vitro to validate their specific and found that the primers amplify both painted and wood turtles under the given PCR conditions. To make the primers species specific we increased the annealing temperature to 63℃. Under the new conditions only the painted turtle had a faint band and the wood turtle sample showed no amplification. More adjusting of the conditions will be done to make the resulting band brighter.
Acquisition:
Collected for SUNY Oswego Institutional Repository by the online self-submittal tool. Submitted by Lillian Pavord.

Record Information

Source Institution:
SUNY Oswego Institutional Repository
Holding Location:
SUNY Oswego Institution
Rights Management:
All applicable rights reserved by the source institution and holding location.