Development of an eDNA method for monitoring lake fish communities

The objectives of this study were (1) to broaden the reference datasets using eDNA-based metabarcoding analysis by collecting and analysing water samples from eight Welsh lakes and six Cheshire meres with well sampled fish faunas and environmental data under UK and European legislation (SSSIs and SACs) and environmental monitoring for the WFD; (2) to find out an approach to evaluate the confidence of species presence and to propose using a relative abundance scale to estimate species abundance through comparing the eDNA metabarcoding results to traditional survey data and historical data; (3) to explore effectiveness of different spatial sampling approaches, particularly comparing shoreline and offshore line sampling.