ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 11 March 2021 doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2021.639380 eDNA Detection of Native and Invasive Crayfish Species Allows for Year-Round Monitoring and Large-Scale Screening of Lotic Systems Franziska Chucholl 1,2*, Franziska Fiolka 1, Gernot Segelbacher 2 and Laura Saskia Epp 1* 1Laboratory of Environmental Genomics, Limnological Institute, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany, 2Laboratory of Conservation Genetics, Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany Effective management of both endangered native and invasive alien crayfishes requires knowledge about distribution, monitoring of existing and early detection of newly established populations. Complementary to traditional survey methods, eDNA sampling has recently emerged as a highly sensitive non-invasive detection method to Edited by: Ivana Maguire, monitor crayfish populations. To advance the use of eDNA as detection tool for crayfish we University of Zagreb, Croatia used a twofold approach: 1) we designed a novel set of specific eDNA-assays for all native Reviewed by: (Austropotamobius torrentium, Austropotamobius pallipes, Astacus astacus) and the Chloe Victoria Robinson, fi University of Guelph, Canada most relevant invasive cray sh species (Pacifastacus leniusculus, Faxonius limosus, David A. Strand, Faxonius immunis) in Central Europe. To ensure specificity each primer pair was tested Norwegian Veterinary Institute, in silico, in vitro, and in situ; 2) we assessed the influence of spatio-temporal variables Norway (distance to upstream population, season, stream size) on eDNA detection in seven *Correspondence: Franziska Chucholl streams using two different detection methods (qualitative endpoint PCR and quantitative
[email protected] droplet digital PCR, ddPCR). The newly developed eDNA assays successfully detected all Laura Saskia Epp fi
[email protected] cray sh species across different lotic and lentic habitats.