Environmental DNA data from Robson HLA, Noble TH, Saunders RJ, Robson SKA, Burrows DW, Jerry DR (2016) Fine tuning for the tropics: application of eDNA technology for invasive fish detection in tropical freshwater ecosystems.

Data consists of 4 files:

(1) Presence/absence data for filtration experiment 1 using 3, 10 and 20 um filters, with and without a prefiltering step

(2) Initial tilapia eDNA concentrations in ng at the start of Exp 2 on degradation for all three treatments, 23, 29 and 35 degrees Celcius

(3) Presence/absence data for Exp 2 on degradation of tilapia eDNA for 3 treatments of temperature 23,29 and 35 degrees Celcius

(4) Presence/absence data recorded as probability of detection for all qPCR replicates by day for all treatment pond densities (0,1,2,4,8,16,32, and up to 64 fish) for Experiment 3-Accumulation of tilapia eDNA.

Extract from Abstract [Related publication]: Invasive species pose a major threat to aquatic ecosystems. Their impact can be particularly severe in tropical regions, like those in northern Australia, where 20 invasive fish species are recorded. In temperate regions, environmental DNA (eDNA) technology is gaining momentum as a tool to detect aquatic pests, but the technology's effectiveness has not been fully explored in tropical systems with their unique climatic challenges (i.e. high turbidity, temperatures and ultraviolet light). In this study, we modified conventional eDNA protocols for use in tropical environments using the invasive fish, Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) as a detection model. We evaluated the effects of high water temperatures and fish density on the detection of tilapia eDNA, using filters with larger pores to facilitate filtration.

The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.