Project Title (brief sentence which explains the purpose of the project for which a grant
is being sought):
20 word limit
Characterizing lagoon biodiversity in southern California using environmental DNA to inform management actions for tidewater goby and other endangered species.
Please enter any previous relationship in the box below to help us process your
application:
50 word limit
This is our first contact with the Fund. We first knew about it through a university newsletter from the Environment and Sustainability Grants, Fellowships and Award Opportunities.
Section 4 Overview
of Your Organization / Community / Individual Project
4.1 For
organizations, please provide the following information:
- Mission of the organization
- Objectives of the organization
- Date it was established
- Geographical area of the project
Along the coast of Malibu in southern California, west coast of the United States of America.
- Target species / habitats covered by the organization
The habitat covered are seasonal coastal lagoons, which are home to a variety of endangered species, but most specially in this case the tidewater goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi).
4.3 Are
there any key institutions the project is affiliated with, such as NGO and
community partners, government agencies or corporate involvement?
Yes
If yes, describe below.
Organization
CALeDNA
Description Of
Affiliation
CALeDNA is a program run by the University of California Conservation Genomics Consortium, supported by the Office of the UC President through the Catalyst Grant Program. The CALeDNA has offered training in laboratory practices and bioinformatic analysis, and will also help process data from sediment and soil samples from targeted sites (NOT water samples), as part of their objective in establishing a baseline of California's biodiversity.
Contact Name
Email Address
Section 5 Project
description
Please note that any information provided on this application may be made available to the media
if the application is successful.
5.1 Please provide:
- Scientific name(s) of the species
Eucyclogobius newberryi
- Vernacular name(s) of the species
Tidewater goby
- Specify species type as one of the following: mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, invertebrate, plant or fungi
Fish
5.2 Whilst
your project may cover a vast area, please specify first the continent and
then the country where your work is focused most:
Continent: North America
Country: United States of America
5.3 Please
elaborate on this location and mention any additional countries or
geographic areas (including oceans) where you aim to support the target species (200 word limit)
Lagoons in California are the numerically dominant form of coastal wetland and have been drastically reduced by coastal road, railroad, and structure development as well as channelization for flood control. Beyond physical degradation, the introduction of non-native fishes for sport, bait, and insect control purposes, has further impacted the native fauna in these systems. Lastly, these systems are impacted by ongoing climate change and will likely further suffer through drought and changes in the hydrological cycle.
Our work will focus on eight lagoons distributed along the Malibu coast: Big Sycamore Canyon, Trancas Canyon, Zuma Canyon, Escondido Canyon, Corral Canyon, Malibu Lagoon, Topanga Canyon, Santa Monica/Rustic Canyon. These sites have been periodically surveyed for breaching and closure, as well as presence of species collected by traditional seine methods. These lagoons represent a spectrum of physical features and anthropogenic impacts.
5.4 Please
outline the conservation status of the target species and the importance of
the associated habitat (200 word limit)
The tidewater goby was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1994 under the 'Endangered Species Act' of 1973, (
https://www.fws.gov/arcata/es/fish/Goby/goby.html). This species is dependent on lower salinity, non-tidal closed lagoonal habitats for reproduction.
Coastal lagoon systems are dynamically controlled by seasonal closure and breaching, which generate a succession of different habitats in space and time and provide a suite of ecological services. This habitat is an important nursery area for juveniles of both aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and breaching plays a necessary role in population dispersal and reproduction, which has direct effects on the biology of fishes, such as the endangered tidewater goby. Moreover, not only its habitat is being threatened by increased urbanization and fragmentation, gobies collected from the field have shown an increase in infection by a fungus related to chytrids, a deadly pathogen. This fungus appears to be spreading , but whether this is a function of increased vulnerability of populations due to water quality, or whether it is a function of spread of the fungus itself remains to be investigated.
5.5 What is the conservation status of the primary target species, using the IUCN
guidelines:
5.6 Please
outline in 20 words or less how this project will contribute to the
conservation of your target species (20 word limit)
By understanding how human impacts affect the community structure of coastal lagoons and the health of species.
5.7 Please
list the overall objectives of the project (200 word limit)
The goal of the present study is to address variation of community composition and structure of coastal lagoons that are affected by human impacts and the presence of the chytrid fungus. Sites will comprise 8 coastal lagoons of southern California that differ in physical aspects and type of anthropogenic impacts. Sampling will be done over Winter and Summer to account for the extreme variability of this system. These study sites will provide relevant material to address a variety of questions, including community seasonality, and how anthropogenic impacts might promote change in trophic structure and species health, specially for the tidewater goby in relation to the presence of the chytrid fungus. This will be achieved by use of environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques using water, sediment and soil samples.
These lagoons will serve as a preliminary understanding and overview of this particular lagoonal system, that can be expanded to many others along the coast. Results generated will inform managers in regards to potentially threatened populations, and refugees that can be used for translocation. It will also aid in mapping the distribution of the chytrid fungus and its effect on sensitive populations.
5.8 Please outline briefly how this project relates to other work done previously with this
species in this area (e.g. Species Action Plan, previous survey or monitoring work). Please also include any scientific references (400 word limit)
Since the nomination of the tidewater goby as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a lot of conservation work has been done by public and private organizations. Many efforts have been put forward to regulate landscape alteration, sewage control, as well as promote surveys, monitoring, translocations and research (Recovery Plan, 2005). Among these researches, our laboratory and collaborators have produced publications on the phylogeography and genetic structure of populations of tidewater goby (\citealp{Earl_2009}), which culminated with a definition of a new species (\citealp{Swift_2016}), separating thus the northern (Eucyclogobius newberryi) and the southern populations (Eucyclogobius kristinae).
Recent work done by \citet*{Schmelzle_2016} investigated the probability of detection of tidewater goby using eDNA techniques and water samples. Field work included several coastal lagoons, sloughs and estuaries along northern California and southern Oregon's coastline. The method was compared to traditional seine methods and previously available data on site occupancy and they concluded that the rate of detection using eDNA was nearly double that of seining, adding to the ever growing evidence of the use of eDNA methods to investigate rare species in the wild.
5.10 Approximately when will the activities that the grant would support take place?
Intended Start Date: (01/Jan/2018) Intended End Date: (01/Jan/2020)
5.11 What
is the next step after the completion of this project for the conservation of the species? (100 word limit)
The laboratory has close contact with employees of the state department of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services that are involved in monitoring and conservation of the endangered goby. A meeting will be arranged to share the results generated by this research, in case the agency is interested, where new policies and efforts can be discussed in face of their possibilities. The final product will be published in open access journal and data will be deposited in free databases (e.g. Genbank) to be retrieved and used by the public, and specially managers and public officials.
5.12 Why
is this project important to your personal development as a conservation
biologist and the work / objectives of your organization? (100 word limit)
This work is part of my doctoral dissertation which involves current methods of high-throughput sequencing to address conservation efforts in southern California. This work will also contribute to current efforts done by the laboratory to better understand the coastal lagoon system and population dynamics of the tidewater goby. Learning and helping to further develop the environmental DNA technique is very advantageous to me because its applicability is suitable for a variety of systems and organisms and it has an enormous potential for field work survey and monitoring.
Section 6 Media
Support
6.1 Please also attach the following support material, to be used by the Fund for
publicity:
A short biography / curriculum vitae of the project applicant and a list of his / her relevant scientific and popular publications
Section 8 Permits
8.1 Will this project require authorization, permits or licences, to complete the activity?
Yes
If yes, describe below.
The laboratory has permission to collect and handle specimens in the field.
Section 9 Budget
9.1 Please provide a cost estimate for the specific activities that the grant would support: