Keywords
HABs, harmful algal blooms, metabarcoding, eDNA, microbial eukaryotes, plankton, amplicon sequence variants
Abstract
Increasing incidence of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) has led to fish kills, air quality hazards, and economic impacts. One economic impact is on tourism, one of the main sources of Florida’s income, where billions of dollars are lost to such events. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC-FWRI), with the help of collaborators, collects water samples from across the state for HAB monitoring. These samples are stored at ambient temperature for up to 24 hours which could directly affect data analyses. Here, in collaboration with FWRI-FWC, I investigated whether this storage technique affects plankton community composition and thus their assessments. Water samples were collected from a single fixed location in the Indian River Lagoon and processed at six timepoints: 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours after collection. To characterize changes in plankton community composition, DNA metabarcoding was employed using universal primer sets targeting the 18S V9 and 16S V3-V4 ribosomal RNA genes. DNA metabarcoding yielding 1,601 18S amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), and 13,537 16S ASVs. Beta diversity analysis of these ASVs by timepoint using Bray-Curtis dissimilarity based on composition and abundance showed significant shifts in the composition over time. However, the major constituents were present at all timepoints. These results suggest that the effects of sample storage methods on community composition are dependent on the question at hand.
Thesis Completion Year
2026
Thesis Completion Semester
Spring
Thesis Chair
Gaither, Michelle R.
College
College of Sciences
Department
Biology
Thesis Discipline
Ecology
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Lievano, Stephanie N., "Assessing The Impact Of Storing Water Samples At Ambient Temperature On Plankton Metabarcoding" (2026). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 521.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/521
Included in
Biology Commons, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Molecular Genetics Commons
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