Examination of the Utility of Environmental DNA Metabarcoding for Monitoring Fish Species in Han Rivr, Korea

Han River in Korea is a crucial water resource and fish habitat. Nonetheless, its biodiversity is declining because of anthropogenic activities, particularly pollution. Fish species sensitive to environmental changes are monitored to conserve biodiversity and pollution monitoring. Fish species can be monitored based on environmental DNA (eDNA) which is released by organisms into the environment eDNA metabarcoding can compensate for the difficulties of collection-based fish monitoring and can be used for efficient monitoring. This study aimed to examine the utility of eDNA metabarcoding for monitoring fish species by performing eDNA metabarcoding of fish 12S rRNA from water samples collected from three locations in the Han River. The results were compared with collection-based survey data from the Water Environment Information System (Ministry of Environment of Korea) from the last three years. The results revealed 32 species that were identified in three locations through eDNA metabarcoding analysis. At all locations, eDNA metabarcoding detected 74.4% of the 43 fish species compared with the collection-based survey data, confirming as a valuable tool for monitoring fish species in Han River. Additionally, eDNA metabarcoding can be used as a tool to compensate for the limitations of collection-based surveys by detecting species with hiding characteristics and nocturnal species that are difficult to detect in collection-based surveys. The results of this study can be used as primary data to contribute to the conservation of fish biodiversity in Han River in the future.