Rationale and application of high throughput sequencing approaches in the study of biodiversity and water quality assessment

The lecture is aimed to provide the rationale and examples of applications of high throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies in aquatic ecology, with a focus on the analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) in biological and environmental samples (aquatic environments and biological hosts). These topics are relevant not only for the advancement of freshwater ecology, but also for the monitoring and management of water resources and the associated biological communities. HTS approaches in ecology have a wide range of applications, for example in the quantitative assessment and biodiversity in a variety of ecosystems and habitats; in the evaluation of the impact of climate change, anthropogenic stressors and pollutants on biodiversity and ecosystem functionality; in the early identification of alien species and monitoring of toxigenic cyanobacteria. Specific topics of the lecture include: i) the state of the art of modern HTS technologies and their role in the advancement of aquatic ecology; ii) the field of application of HTS approaches, with practical applied ecological case studies from aquatic microbiota and “algal culture” ecosystems; iii) identification of pros and cons of different methods and their possible combinations; iv) the inclusion of HTS in research projects and in different ecological / environmental “problem solving” issues, complementing or challenging traditional monitoring approaches. In this regard, the lecture will provide a broad overview of the project Eco-AlpsWater (Interreg Alpine Space). The project is based on a wide EU collaboration among 6 participating countries. One of the main objectives of the project is to develop and apply state of the art methods for the monitoring of cyanobacteria and bacteria, microalgae and fish based on the use of HTS techniques, complementing traditional approaches and anticipating the route in the development of next generation water monitoring systems.