Program

edna2021 Meeting schedule (UTC+9, abstracts available at the meeting core-site)

●Day-1 (November 20th, Sat)

9:00-9:10 Opening remarks (Zoom, Jp/En)

9:10-10:10 Plenary Talk Session (Zoom, En):

"Toward eDNA analysis as a globally accepted approach for fish

management and conservation: what works and what to improve"

Prof. Louis Bernatchez (Université Laval, Canada)

10:20-11:20 Lightning Talks-A（For PP001-042, Zoom, Jp/En）

11:30-13:30 Poster session-A（PP001-042, Meeting core-site&oVice, Jp/En）

13:30-14:30 Lightning Talks-B（SP001-012 & PP043-075, Zoom, Jp/En）

14:40-16:40 Poster session-B（SP001-012 & PP043-075, Meeting core-site&oVice, Jp/En）

18:00-19:20 Night talk session - I（Zoom webinar, En）

"The Science of Monster Hunting"

Prof. Neil Gemmell (University of Otago, New Zealand)

19:30-20:50 Night talk session - II（Zoom webinar, En）

"Connecting the dots in the web of life with eDNA and Networks"

Jordana Meyer, Ph.D. (Stanford University, U.S.A.)

21:00-22:30 Night talk session - III（Zoom meeting, Jp）

みんなで語ろう！環境DNAの展望とキャリアパス

●Day-2 (November 21st, Sun)

9:30-11:00 Self-organized symposia (1-3, Zoom, Jp/En)

11:05-11:45 Company presentations (by Illumina & Go Foton)

13:00-15:30 Public symposium (Local events[Sapporo/Minami-Sanriku/Fukuoka&Zoom], Jp)

15:45-16:45 Technical seminar (Zoom, Jp/En, Society member only)

"Environmental DNA Metabarcoding Analysis in Practice (Q&A)"

Lecturer: Masayuki Ushio, Ph.D. (Kyoto University)

16:45-17:15 Poster award ceremony & Closing remarks (oVice, Jp/En)

PICK-UPS:

(* En: in English, Jp: in Japanese, Jp/En: [at least partly] bilingual)

Day-1: Plenary Talk (9:10-10:10, Nov. 20th)

"Toward eDNA analysis as a globally accepted approach for fish management and conservation: what works and what to improve" (En)

Louis Bernatchez (Université Laval, Canada)

The emergence of environmental DNA (eDNA)-based methods for species detection and identification have revolutionised our ability to assess and monitor fish biodiversity in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. Despite the constantly expanding enthusiasm and interest for the various applications of eDNA analyses, there are still concerns and issues that need to be addressed to get the best benefits from applying these methods and have them accepted globally as part of the toolbox toward improving fish management and conservation. In this presentation, I will highlight several success fish stories demonstrating the power of eDNA analyses in complementing and sometimes replacing conventional approaches not only for detecting the occurrence of species, but also to extract quantitative information as well as providing crucial information on the spatio-temporal dynamics of fish communities, both in freshwater and marine environments. Then, I will present a summary of what eDNA experts around the world consider as the most pressing issues to be addressed toward improving the various applications of eDNA analyses, particularly regarding the need for globally accepted standardised protocols, issues pertaining to the use of different “markers”, which among other things hampers the development of concerted international effort toward building common and standardised reference database as well as common data repository. Toward this goal, I will argue that eDNA practitioners would benefit in seeking inspiration from the international Barcode of Life initiative(iBOL).

*This plenary talk session will be co-organized by: JSPS Core to Core Program（JPJSCCB20200007）

Day-1: Night talk sessions (Nov. 20th)

Session-1: "The Science of Monster Hunting" (18:00-19:20, En)

talked by Neil Gemmell (University of Otago, New Zealand)

Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is a smorgasbord of organic materials left behind by living things as they pass through their environment. This trace material is increasing being used to make sense of previously hard to study species, communities, and ecosystems on land, in the water, and even in the air. In marine systems we are testing the power of eDNA approaches for rapid and accurate assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem health - key enablers of ecosystem-based management. While recent studies, including our own, have shown the potential of eDNA to detect even rare, highly mobile, marine organisms, questions remain about the spatial and temporal resolution of marine eDNA. We have explored these questions in marine settings around New Zealand and find extraordinary spatial resolution in our eDNA work. Temporal effects also appear to be surprisingly modest. I will discuss our findings in the context of future plans to monitor our aquatic systems for fisheries, conservation, biosecurity, and other purposes including the occasional monster hunt. In that final context I will explore how that rollicking tale of monster hunting captured the imagination of the public and media and presented an unprecedented opportunity to talk about genetics and evolutionary science in a fresh way.

[moderator: Hitoshi Araki (Hokkaido U.)]

Session-2: "Connecting the dots in the web of life with eDNA and Networks" (19:30-20:50, En)

talked by Jordana Meyer (Stanford University, U.S.A.)

Our world we live in is a complicated web of species interactions, including with yourself, both directly and indirectly impacting individuals through to ecosystems and the planet. Global biodiversity is threatened by the anthropogenic restructuring of animal communities, rewiring species interaction networks in real-time as individuals are eradicated or introduced and even hybridizing with changing climates. We are working towards more rapid, quantitative, and non-invasive technologies for robustly capturing changing biodiversity and quantifying species interactions through molecular ecological networks. Feces is gold in this respect, and I cannot get away from it in my work, as it constructs the network of these interactions (diet, microbiome, parasites) and reveals the reproductive health, level of stress, individual genetic identity, and the biodiversity of an area. Through fecal surveys we were able to capture mammal assemblages better than camera traps, understand the effect of fluctuating predator populations on plant communities, identify keystone species and determine the structure of the community. I will discuss our findings from a California ecosystem impacted by the natural return of an apex predator, to the unique hybrid elephants in the Congo and how eDNA plays a role in these assessments. I will also be sharing with you my personal web of different pathways in the sciences and academia, all leading to conservation efforts.

[moderator: Hiroki Yamanaka (Ryukoku U.)]

Day-2: Self-organized symposia (9:30-11:00, Nov. 21st)

Three parallel sessions are expected on the Day-2.

（１）Encouraging meta-analysis and data simulation for eDNA analysis (Jp/En)

　Organizer(s) / Toshiaki Jo (Ryukoku University)

（２）Current status and prospects of environmental DNA analysis in various taxonomic groups (Jp/En)

　Organizer(s) / Masayuki K. Sakata (Kobe University)

（３）Social implementation of eDNA: toward efficient biodiversity monitoring (Jp/En)

　Organizer(s):　

　Hideyuki Doi (University of Hyogo), Hitoshi Araki (Hokkaido University),

　Kimiko Uchii (Osaka Ohtani University), Hiroki Yamanaka (Ryukoku University)

Day-2: Technical Seminar (15:45-16:45, Nov. 21st, registered members only, [speak in Jp, slides in Jp/En])

"Environmental DNA Metabarcoding Analysis in Practice (Q&A)"

Lecturer: Masayuki Ushio (Kyoto University)