EVALUATING THE UTILITY OF DNA METABARCODING METHODS IN WATER QUALITY BIOMONITORING PROTOCOLS TO ASSESS STREAM HEALTH

The overarching goal of the project is to build institutional capacity in watershed research through the investigation of novel biomonitoring methods at the watershed scale in order to determine the most effective molecular approach to assessment of freshwater systems in the context of a real-world application in northwest Florida.The specific objectives of the proposed research project are to:1) Document aquatic insect diversity (e.g., Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) in streams within the Ochlockonee River watershed, Florida;2) Compare speed and accuracy of traditional identification, bulk sample metabarcoding, and eDNA metabarcoding under the FDEP Rapid BioRecon protocol;3) Quantify agriculture land-use impact on streams of the Ochlockonee River Watershed using biomonitoring and physiochemical data;4) Determine influence of various physiochemical parameters on aquatic insectcommunity composition.