Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Chair
Matthew L. Niemiller
Committee Member
Aron D. Katz
Committee Member
Paul G. Wolf
Committee Member
Zachary W. Culumber
Research Advisor
Matthew L. Niemiller
Subject(s)
Biodiversity--Alaska--Tongass National Forest, Zoological surveys--Alaska--Tongass National Forest, Underground areas--Alaska--Tongass National Forest, Caves--Alaska--Tongass National Forest, DNA fingerprinting--Technique, Tongass National Forest (Alaska)
Abstract
The Tongass National Forest (TNF) is a large temperate rainforest in southeastern Alaska, much of which is underlain by karst. Timber harvest, among other threats, can have detrimental effects on karst habitats; however, the subterranean fauna of this region is understudied and lacks a baseline for monitoring. I spent three field seasons conducting biological assessments of caves in the TNF using two approaches: traditional specimen-based sampling and eDNA metabarcoding. To improve the reference sequence database, I generated 213 novel sequences from invertebrate specimens collected from 35 caves. I also collected 125 water samples from 39 sites for environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding analysis, targeting two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) and 16S ribosomal RNA. Over 400 unique taxa were identified, including several new records and species of conservation concern. Distance-based linear models of community composition revealed differences in the taxa recorded by our two approaches. This study provided the first comprehensive biological assessments of subterranean fauna of the TNF and demonstrated the utility of complementing environmental DNA and traditional survey approaches.
Recommended Citation
Higgs, Jared P., "Surveying subterranean biodiversity of the Tongass National Forest using traditional survey approaches and environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding" (2025). Theses. 760.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/760
