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This project, Funded by the Marine Conservation and Enhancement Fund (MCEF), aims to establish an environmental DNA (eDNA) based marine biodiversity assessment strategy for the HKOLNGT Project area of interest. Using eDNA this project aims to assess the spatial and temporal change in biodiversity over time for key conservation species of vertebrates, including dolphins, porpoises, and fish communities in the western waters of Hong Kong.
Project contributors
Prof. Mat Seymour (PI)
Dr. Thalina Nimalrathna (Postdoc)
Si Zhewei, Vivy (Lab assistant) Robot handling specialist
Chan Tsz Ying, Elaine (Lab and Field assistant)
Yeung Ka Lam, Karen (Lab research assistant)
Qian Cheng, Luke (Field assistance)
Wong Kwan, Yan (Field assistance)
Dr. Isis Guibert - (Senior Research Assistant)
Cheng Cheuk Hin, Ryan (Field assistance)
Project update & Status
July 2022 - Project initiated
September 2022 - Field sampling of 20 sites over 5 days. In total 200 eDNA samples collected to assess the effect of depth on eDNA detection. Happy to have along the WWF to take acoustic recordings for fish biodiversity assessment.
November 2022 - Visit to Ocean Park Aquarium to collect eDNA and cetacean tissue samples for method validation.
December 2022 - Extracted the first batch of eDNA samples
February 2023 - Second field expeditions (revisiting the initial 20 sites). Five days of field work and 200 more eDNA samples collected. Happy to have the WWF along again to take additional acoustic recordings.
March 2023 - Successful preliminary qPCR testing for cetacean and fish eDNA while trouble shooting metabarcoding primers.
April 2023 - Second batch of eDNA samples extracted. Metabarcoding primer optimization and troubleshooting.
May2023 - Presentation of project, including an overview of the project and initial findings at the eDNA society meeting in Otsu, Japan.
July 2023 - Metabarcoding library sequencing preparation underway and robotics programing optimization.
August 2023 - First sequencing libraries submitted for sequencing.
August 2023 - Started second set of field campaign with collaboration Dolphin Watch Ltd. Sampling every 1-2 weeks for the next 10 months.
October 2023 - Bioinformatics and analysis of the first set of molecular data.
March 2024 - Sequence data processed and analyzed for 1st full set of fish specific sequence data (Figure) along with our first trial of cetacean specific meta-barcoding primers.
May 2024 - Last set of field sampling carried out. Concluding the field sampling portion of the project. In total we have collected over 800 eDNA samples.
June 2024 – Carried out library generation and submitted a full set of amplicons for sequencing using a new marker set for detecting dolphin/cetacean.
July 2024 - Findings from the project, particularly the fish biodiversity and preliminary dolphin data were presented at the Ecological Society of America Annual meeting, held in Long Beach, California, USA. A new batch of sequences have been analyzed and assessed. Both the Chinese white dolphin and finless porpoise were successfully detected, with the detections in the expected geographic regions. Some suspected non-local species were also detected along the most southern sampling points.
August 2024 – Successful further optimization of the HKU eDNA lab’s liquid handling robot which will facilitate increased efficiency in the metabarcoding library workflow. Additional successful optimization of the library quantification protocol, enabling faster sequencing processing and data generation.
September 2024- We have processed our 4th Miseq sequencing run, including fish and cetacean primers sets.
October 2024 - Some delay in the workflow as we await new reagents. Very happy to join the Tung Chung Brownies, with Dolphin Watch Ltd., on our sampling trip on the 14th of October. Was great to have so many young dolphin enthusiast keen in learning about our dolphin conservation efforts. Many thanks for the support!
December 2024 - Two more sequencing runs submitted and returned for processing.
March 2024 - Two more sequencing runs submitted and returned for data processing. Data analysis underway for the first manuscript.
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