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About the Authors:
Taylor M. Wilcox
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Montana, United States of America
Kevin S. McKelvey
Affiliation: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Montana, United States of America
Michael K. Young
Affiliation: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Montana, United States of America
Stephen F. Jane
Affiliation: Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
Winsor H. Lowe
Affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, United States of America
Andrew R. Whiteley
Affiliation: Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America
Michael K. Schwartz
Affiliation: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, Montana, United States of America
Introduction
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is DNA extracted from an environmental sample without isolating the target organism [1], [2]. Environmental DNA has been characterized as a mixture of genomic DNA from many different organisms, which is often degraded into small fragments [2]. The collection and analysis of eDNA has many applications; one that has recently received a great deal of attention is the detection of rare aquatic vertebrates, both for the early detection of invading nonnative species (e.g., [3]–[6]) and for the detection of rare native species of interest (e.g., [7]–[9]) such as species currently listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Much has been written about the problems associated with nonnative species, from economic to ecological impacts (e.g., [10], [11]). Nonnative species pose a particular threat to closely related native species with which they may compete or hybridize (e.g., [12], [13]). Consequently, they, and the closely related native species that they impact, are often the target of extensive monitoring programs. Environmental DNA can be a useful tool during three periods of nonnative species invasions: (1) early in the invasion when invaders are rare, (2) late in the invasion when native species are rare, and (3) following management control actions designed to eradicate the invading species. Environmental DNA monitoring could be a useful approach in these situations because conventional survey methods require inordinately large amounts of effort to achieve adequate levels of detection when species...