[M-IS16] Paleoclimatology and paleoceanography

[MIS16-P08] Can Sedimentary fish DNA track decadal to centennial scale fish abundance?

*Michinobu Kuwae¹, Hiromichi Tamai¹, Hideyuki Doi², Masayuki Sakata³, Toshifumi Minamoto³, Yoshiaki Suzuki⁴ (1.Center for Marine Environmental Studies, 2.Graduate School of Simulation Studies, University of Hyogo, 3.Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, 4.Research Institute of Geology and Geoinformation, Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Keywords:sedimentary DNA, fish abundance, Beppu bay

Far too little is known about the long-term dynamics of the abundance of most macro-organism species. We used sedimentary DNA technology to quantify marine fish DNA abundance in sediment sequences spanning the last 300 years. This study first shows the existence of fish DNA in the sequences and proves that fish abundance can be tracked using sedimentary DNA, highlighting the utility of sedimentary DNA for researchers to acquire lengthy records of macro-organism species abundance.

Reference
Kuwae, M., Tamai, H., Doi, H., Sakata, M.K., Minamoto, T., and Suzuki, Y. (2020) Sedimentary DNA tracks decadal-centennial changes in fish species abundance. Communications Biology, 3, 558, https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01282-9