Monitoring Mediterranean Floodplain Restoration using Multi-Sensor Fusion and Environmental DNA

Jacob Nesslage,  University of California Merced,  jnesslage@ucmerced.edu (Presenter)
Jen Quick-Cleveland,  University of California Santa Cruz,  jen.caledna@gmail.com
Rachel Meyer,  University of California Santa Cruz,  rameyer@ucsc.edu
Erin Hestir,  University of California Merced,  ehestir@ucmerced.edu

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, ratified by 190 countries at the fifteenth meeting of the UN Conference of the Parties in 2022, has committed to conservation and restoration of 30% of the world’s degraded freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems by 2030. These commitments under 30 x 30 require significant investment in areas of special interest to biodiversity conservation and restoration, such as Mediterranean floodplains, which despite their relatively small area harbor many native and endemic flora and fauna. In recognition of the multiple benefits provided by floodplains, including biodiversity, California has recently engaged in several floodplain restoration projects as part of the state’s 30 x 30 strategy. Advancements in remote sensing to measure ecosystem structure and heterogeneity, combined with the use of environmental DNA to quantify bacteria, fungal, archaea, plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate taxonomic and functional community composition, may allow for the monitoring of floodplain biodiversity across the landscape matrix of working agricultural lands and riparian areas. Our team collected 68 eDNA samples and soil samples along 17 transects between a recently fallowed maize field undergoing floodplain restoration and remnant riparian forest patches along the San Joaquin River. In-situ measurements were augmented by UAV photogrammetry over the transects using a DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2, multispectral satellite imagery from Planet SuperDove, Sentinel-2, Landsat 8/9, and an airborne hyperspectral overpass by AVIRIS. Through analysis of environmental DNA, we have found that while alpha diversity was similar across the agricultural and riparian patches (Wilcoxon Test, p > 0.05), beta diversity was significantly different between them (PERMANOVA, p<0.01), meaning riparian patches contribute to regional diversity across taxa. Efforts are now directed towards assigning functional groups to identified organisms and developing beta diversity and functional diversity models using remote sensing and eDNA.

Poster: Poster_Nesslage_2-56_122_35.pdf 

Poster Location ID: 2-56

Presentation Type: Poster

Session: Poster Session 2

Session Date: Wed (May 10) 5:15-7:15 PM

CCE Program: BDEC