Detección de biodiversidad a partir del ADN Ambiental en el DNMI Colinas y Lomas de la Cuenca Pacifico Norte Colombiana | eDNA derived biodiversity detections in the Colombian DNMI Colinas and Lomas from the North Pacific Basin

En laboratorio se emplearon dos pares de cebadores mitocondriales para el gen 12S del ARNr, dirigidos a vertebrados en general (Vert02) y a peces óseos (Teleo 01). El presente conjunto de datos recopila 2376 registros de ocurrencia de aves, mamíferos acuáticos y peces. Este ultimo grupo fue el más diverso detectado, lo cual puede atribuirse tanto a su abundancia en la zona como a la especificidad del cebador utilizado. | The DNMI Colinas y Lomas Submarinas de la Cuenca Pacífico Norte, designated in 2022, is currently the second deep-sea marine protected area (MPA) in Colombia, after the Cordillera Beata National Reserve, that has biodiversity inventories based on environmental DNA (eDNA).

This tool has enabled the characterization of biodiversity in hard-to-reach ecosystems, thanks to its ability to detect species robustly and efficiently while causing minimal impact on natural systems, unlike other sampling methods. Sampling was conducted in the Colinas y Lomas DNMI using aquatic environmental DNA in 2022 prior to its designation and in 2023 as a monitoring activity for the new MPA. The sampling methodology consisted of filtering three 120-liter replicates per station at a rate of 1 liter per minute; water was collected using an oceanographic rosette (with 12 Niskin bottles, each holding 10 liters).

In the laboratory, two pairs of mitochondrial primers targeting the 12S rRNA gene were used, directed at vertebrates in general (Vert02) and bony fishes (Teleo01). This dataset compiles 2,376 occurrence records of birds, aquatic mammals, and fishes. Fishes were the most diverse group detected, which may be attributed both to their abundance in the area and to the specificity of the primer used.