Comparison of biodiversity of ARMS installed in Jeju Island through metabarcoding technique and morphological classification assay

Abstract

Global warming driven by climate change has negative impacts on marine biodiversity. Jeju Island has been suggested as an area capable of supporting the high biodiversity of its geographical position and the different currents influencing the marine environment around the island. Jeju is located within temperate latitudes but borders to environmental changes, providing an ideal testbed for assessments of life under rapid climate change. However, a significant limitation of monitoring programs is the difficulty in comparing and quantifying results generated by different methods. The MarineGEO program developed a quantitative, standardized method of sampling monitoring data called Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). We deployed ARMS units in Jeju (Kangjung, Bomok, and Seongsan) in 2018. After 12 months, the ARMS were retrieved, and DNA and morphological assay conducted a taxonomic analysis determining the marine biodiversity. Through genetic analysis and morphological classification of each site, 158~265 and 104~130 species were classified, respectively. So far, we found new Osctracoda species and unrecorded gastropod species from the ARMS units. We expect this baseline data will provide further information to detect “climate refugees,” i.e., newly extended species due to climate change and species new to the science of understudied taxa. These “climate refugees” would disturb marine ecosystems as they compete with indigenous marine organisms. Besides investigating changes in marine ecosystems caused by climate change and detecting invasive marine species, this standardized monitoring method (ARMS) is applied to understand the role of biodiversity in sustaining resilient coastal marine ecosystems under climate threat.