DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pnvx0k6qv
title: Distinct latitudinal community patterns of Arctic marine vertebrates along the East Greenlandic coast detected by environmental DNA

description: Aim: Greenland is one of the places on Earth where the effects of
 climate change are most evident. The retreat of sea ice has made East
 Greenland more accessible for longer periods during the year. East
 Greenland fjords have been notoriously difficult to study due to their
 remoteness, dense sea ice conditions and lack of infrastructure. As a
 result, biological monitoring across latitudinal gradients is scarce in
 East Greenland and relies on sporadic research cruises and trawl data from
 commercial vessels. We here aim to investigate the transition in fish and
 marine mammal communities from South to Northeast Greenland using
 environmental DNA (eDNA). Location: South to Northeast Greenland.
 Methods: We investigated the transition in fish and marine mammal
 communities from South to Northeast Greenland using eDNA metabarcoding of
 seawater samples. We included both surface and mesopelagic samples,
 collected over approximately 2400 km waterway distance, by sampling from
 Cape Farewell to Ella Island in August 2021. Results: We
 demonstrate a clear transition in biological communities from south to
 northeast, with detected fish and mammal species matching known
 distributions. Samples from the southern areas were dominated by capelin
 (Mallotus villotus) and redfish (Sebastes), whereas northeastern samples
 were dominated by polar cod (Boreogadus saida), sculpins (Myoxocephalus)
 and ringed seal (Pusa hispida). We provide newly generated 12S rRNA
 barcodes from 72 fish species, bringing the public DNA database closer to
 full taxonomic coverage for Greenlandic fish species for this locus. Main
 conclusions: Our results demonstrate that eDNA sampling can
 detect latitudinal shifts in marine biological communities of the Arctic
 region, which can supplement traditional fish surveys in understanding
 species distributions and community compositions of marine vertebrates.
 Importantly, sampling of eDNA can be a feasible approach for detecting
 northward range expansions in remote areas as climate change progresses.
description: This dataset represents environmental DNA sequencing data from a
 marine research cruise from South to Northeast Greenland during August
 2021. Samples were collected at 29 stations in surface waters and
 mesopelagic waters. See connected publication for additional
 details. DNA has been amplified with the primers Tele02
 and Elas02 simultaneously. Primers consist of the forward primers Tele02_F
 (5’-AAACTCGTGCCAGCCACC-3’)
 and Elas02_F (5’-GTTGGTHAATCTCGTGCCAGC-3’) and the reverse primers
 Tele02_R (5’-GGGTATCTAATCCCAGTTTG-3’) and
 Elas02_R (5’-CATAGTAGGGTATCTAATCCTAGTTTG-3’), targeting a 163-185 bp
 fragment of 12S. The libraries have been sequenced using paired end
 NovaSeq 6000 sequencing (150 BP PE).
description: The data consists of 12 sequencing libraries, but has here been
 split into 24 libraries to demultiplex Tele02 and Elas02 reads
 separately. All suffixes ending in 1 to 4 represent Tele02, whereas all
 suffixes ending in 5 to 8 represent Elas02. Please see README_file.txt for
 additional usage notes. Within each library, there are seawater samples
 ("KR21StXXX") and sequenced control samples (i.e. CNEs, NTCs,
 FBs, BBs). The ”tags” files include the sample name
 followed by the PCR replicate number (again, 5-8 refer to Elas02 primers
 but they were amplified in the same tubes as 1-4). The two following
 columns represent the tags used for each sample (both forward and reverse
 primer were tagged). Tags are consistent across PCR replicates.
 If you want to follow the exact filtering and data analysis done
 in the study, we refer to the manuscript for further details. If you have
 any questions, feel free to send an email with any questions you may
 have.