Revising the range of Rocky Mountain tailed frog, Ascaphus montanus, in British Columbia, Canada, using environmental DNA methods

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dc.contributor.authorHobbs, Jared
dc.contributor.authorAdams, Ian T.
dc.contributor.authorRound, Jessica M.
dc.contributor.authorGoldberg, Caren S.
dc.contributor.authorAllison, Michael J.
dc.contributor.authorBergman, Lauren C.
dc.contributor.authorMirabzadeh, Ali
dc.contributor.authorAllen, Heather
dc.contributor.authorHelbing, Caren C.
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-15T21:25:27Z
dc.date.available2020-06-15T21:25:27Z
dc.date.copyright2020en_US
dc.date.issued2020
dc.description.abstractThe Rocky Mountain tailed frog, Ascaphus montanus , is a species at‐risk in Canada. Based upon time‐ and area‐constrained physical search surveys completed between 1996 and 2004, its Canadian distribution was defined as occurring in 19 tributaries and reaches within the Yahk and west side Flathead River Basins of British Columbia. We undertook a five‐year (2014–2018 inclusive) environmental DNA (eDNA) survey to reassess the distribution of Rocky Mountain tailed frog, focusing on tributaries proximal to known extant occurrence records. Seventeen days of field sampling were performed over the five‐year period. Targeted qPCR‐based eDNA approaches proved more effective than conventional physical search methods for detecting tailed frogs due to relatively rapid field collection, low cost of filter materials, elimination of observer bias, and higher detection probabilities compared to conventional time‐constrained survey methods. One hundred and forty sites were examined (138 for eDNA plus two visual only). Thirty‐two of the 138 sites (23%) tested positive for Rocky Mountain tailed frog DNA, including from the four extant populations sampled, whereas visual observations occurred at only seven of the sites (5%) during the survey. During the study, we evaluated two tailed frog tests and the mitigation of false negatives through testing for qPCR inhibition and sample degradation, and we demonstrate their utility in evaluating eDNA data quality. These results expand the extant range of Rocky Mountain tailed frog in the Flathead, Wigwam, and Yahk watersheds and add two new watersheds (Moyie and Tepee) by identifying five newly recorded occupied drainages in Canada: Elder Creek, Upper Wigwam River, Tepee Creek, Gilnockie Creek, and Elmer Creek. These data are important to refine and augment wildlife habitat conservation areas for Rocky Mountain tailed frog.en_US
dc.description.reviewstatusRevieweden_US
dc.description.scholarlevelFacultyen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipWe thank L. Anderson, T. Antifeau, and P. Holmes (BC Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural Resource Operations; BC MFLNRO), A Weber‐Roy (BC Parks), M. Hounjet (Columbia Basin Trust) and C. Conroy (Ktunaxa Nation Council) for their support. We thank E. Adams, C. Browne, C. Conroy, C. Copage, T. Davis, S. Dulc, H. Flagg, E. Vincer, and A. Weber‐Roy for field and filtering assistance; K. Cochrell, M. Hii, G. Ikonomou, Dr. N. Veldhoen, and B. Walle for technical expertize; and S. Bowie for editorial review of the manuscript. Funding was provided by Innovate BC, BC MFLNRO Land Based Investment program, Columbia Basin Trust Environmental Initiatives program and BC Parks Licence Plate program. The funders were not involved in the design, interpretation or the writing of this study. A patent is pending on some of the concepts presented in the manuscript (US provisional application number 62/406,802). The patent is owned by the University of Victoria who will handle commercial and academic licensing agreements. JH was an employee of Hemmera Envirochem Inc. and is currently with J Hobbs Ecological Consulting Ltd. Ian T. Adams was employed by VAST Resource Solutions and is currently with Larix Ecological Consulting. JH and ITA were involved with all aspects of the study with the exception of running the qPCR tests used in the present study. AM and HA are employees of Bureau Veritas Laboratories and they participated in the inter‐laboratory comparative analysis of eDNA test performance.en_US
dc.identifier.citationHobbs, J., Adams, I. T., Roud, J. M., Goldberg, C. S., Allison, M. J., Bergman, L. C., Mirabzadeh, A., Allen, H., & Helbing, C. C. (2020). Revising the range of Rocky Mountain tailed frog, Ascaphus montanus, in British Columbia, Canada, using environmental DNA methods. Environmental DNA, 2020, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.82.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.82
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/11834
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherEnvironmental DNAen_US
dc.subjectAscaphus montanusen_US
dc.subjectendangered amphibian speciesen_US
dc.subjectenvironmental DNAen_US
dc.subjectnonlethal samplingen_US
dc.subjectpopulation distributionen_US
dc.subjectrobust methods developmenten_US
dc.subjectRocky Mountain tailed frogen_US
dc.subjecttime-constrained sampling methoden_US
dc.titleRevising the range of Rocky Mountain tailed frog, Ascaphus montanus, in British Columbia, Canada, using environmental DNA methodsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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