earticle

영어

Korea is located at the edge of the distribution range of most marine reptiles, so the population density is very low across species. In addition, there are no nesting sites, making the application of various research methods limited and inefficient. To overcome these limitations, we have developed environmental DNA (eDNA) markers for the three most common marine reptiles in Korea (loggerhead turtle, green turtle, and Chinese sea snake), and performed pilot monitoring. The development of species-specific markers was sequentially conducted through program-based marker development and various validation processes using tissue DNA, aquarium eDNA, and foreign marine eDNA. The developed markers were applied for monitoring at 10 (loggerhead turtles), 17 (green turtles) and 10 (Chinese sea snake) sites in the Korea. The three sets of species-specific eDNA markers (Crcr29, Chmy11, Lase_cytb_10) were successfully developed and verified. In the monitoring application of loggerhead turtle marker in 2023, eDNA was detected from two sites in Jeju. Green turtle eDNA was detected from seven sites. . The Chinese sea snake eDNA was detected from six sites and the detection frequency was the highest in November. Considering that monitoring of Korean marine reptiles has been conducted only through passive methods (i.e. sampling bycatch, stranded, or dead individuals) to date, our developed eDNA markers and monitoring methods provide active study methods and can be a very useful in future survey and related research of marine reptiles.