Project Description

Project Context :

Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten French lake ecosystems. Monitoring them is crucial in order to map their distribution, understand their colonization strategies and possibly limit their spread. At an early stage, low densities delay their detection by conventional observation. Environmental DNA (eDNA), a method with high detection sensitivity—especially when coupled with digital PCR (ddPCR)—could enable early, non-invasive, and quantitative identification of IAS in lakes.

Project Objectives :

The InvaBiomonitoring project aims to develop innovative tools based on environmental DNA (eDNA) to monitor invasive alien species (IAS) in lakes. Several species are considered, with notably (i) the eDNA monitoring of the round goby compared to traditional methods (fishing and diving observation), (ii) the study of the reproduction of quagga and zebra mussels using eDNA — two species morphologically indistinguishable in their larval stages—, (iii) the development of multi-species eDNA tools for detecting up to six IAS at the same time (crayfish, mollusks, fish) via digital PCR.

Project Results

To go further

Contact : marine.vautier@inrae.fr