2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Marine environmental DNA metabarcoding: understanding oceanic islands and mainland sites across anthropogenic gradients in two hemispheres

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	20KK0164
Research Category	Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research (B))
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 45:Biology at organismal to population levels and anthropology, and related fields
Research Institution	University of the Ryukyus
Principal Investigator	REIMER JD 琉球大学, 理学部, 教授 (20452956)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	成瀬貫琉球大学, 熱帯生物圏研究センター, 准教授 (30398309) 櫛田優花立正大学, 地球環境科学部, 助教 (90914341) MASUCCI GIOVANNI・DIEGO 琉球大学, 理工学研究科, 博士研究員 (80890053)
Project Period (FY)	2020-10-27 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	eDNA / degradation / anthropogenic impacts / coral reefs / marine biodiversity / coral / fish
Outline of Final Research Achievements	To investigate whether oceanic islands experience the same patterns of degradation as mainland sites, we examined the environmental DNA of sites on the Japanese mainland and Ogasawara. We conducted field work in Ogasawara with Australian collaborators and collected eDNA samples around southern Japan. Our dataset shows that human-impacted sites are not necessarily less diverse, but rather may have different biodiversity. Initial analysis shows that the impacted sites have commonalities across different regions and sites, indicating that perhaps anthropogenic impacts are all altering marine ecosystems in specific ways, suggesting that a general theory of marine ecosystem degradation due to anthropogenic impacts may be within reach.
Free Research Field	海洋生態学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	Our analyses indicate there are common denominators to impacted sites across different sites, showing that anthropogenic impacts all change marine ecosystems in particular ways, and there may be some general theory of marine ecosystem degradation under anthropogenic influences within reach.