Browsing by Author "Oosthuizen, Delene"
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- ItemMonitoring deep-sea benthic biodiversity using environmental DNA approaches to compare trawled and untrawled sites(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Oosthuizen, Delene; Von der Heyden, Sophie; Seymour, Mat; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Botany and Zoology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The deep-sea is the largest environment on earth and yet it remains understudied. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding provides a cost and time effective method to characterise and study deep-sea benthic communities. This study is the first study in South Africa to use eDNA to study benthic communities in the deep-sea. Sediment samples were collected from 29 sites on Childs Bank off the West Coast of South Africa. Certain sites had been closed to trawling for 5 years while others had been left open to trawling. DNA was extracted from the sediment samples and used to determine the taxonomic composition of the benthic communities. When compared to existing species inventories from the area, it was found that the eDNA metabarcoding recovered similar numbers of taxa, some of which were not listed in other species lists. However, many taxa could only be assigned to higher taxonomic levels such as order as many species are not represented in barcode databases. Environmental data such as site depth and sediment type and composition were also collected from the study sites. Community composition was then compared between sites to determine whether trawling, depth or sediment type affected community composition. Contrary to what was expected, depth was the only factor with a significant effect on community composition.