Training at British Antarctic Survey (BAS)

Dr Siobhan Vye

South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute

For the past 18 months, my research has focused on marine biosecurity in the Southern Ocean, specifically South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Southern Ocean is at increasing risk of successful marine introductions from the combined impacts of increasing vessel traffic and climate change. To date, there has been no extensive screening of visitor sites around South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula for the presence of marine non-native species or to establish a baseline of biodiversity. In late 2024, a collaborator and I travelled onboard a tourism vessel to visitor sites in South Georgia and on the Antarctic Peninsula to collect environmental DNA and plankton samples to look for non-native species and characterise wider biodiversity. Environmental DNA techniques enable sampling on vessels of opportunity, such as tourism vessels, but the addition of traditional plankton sampling methods and the analysis of multiple sample types for metabarcoding provides for a more robust data set for analysis and interpretation.

Supported by the Challenger Stepping Stones Bursary, I organised to spend 4 weeks at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to work with collaborators, Drs Alison Cleary and Cecilia Liszka to be trained in metabarcoding techniques and automated identification of zooplankton to analyse the samples collected in 2024. The first two weeks of the visit focused on refining protocols for the extraction of DNA from surface water sample filters and quantifying the DNA extracted. I then received training on how to run PCRs using parameters developed under another South Georgia project led by Alison and Cecilia and check our target sequences had been amplified using gel electrophoresis. We were looking to use two different primers, 18S and COI, that would enable us to identify metazoan DNA from the water samples. We had to trouble shoot both PCRs protocols to ensure we had consistent amplification across samples. The final steps of the process were to prepare the samples for sequencing. As all these techniques took time to complete training on, and we had to refined some of the PCR protocols, I didn’t manage to finish all the steps that were required to make the samples ready for sequencing. However, I have organised to return to BAS for a couple of days in later in the year to finishing preparing the samples for sequencing. I successfully completed scans of all of the plankton samples from the project’s priority sites.
The time at the BAS supported by the Challenger Society Stepping Stones Bursary has been highly beneficial and would not have been possible without this financial support. The trip will have hopefully enabled us to start to characterise biodiversity and screen for common marine non-natives at visitor sites in the Southern Ocean. The trip has also deepened my understanding of laboratory techniques for eDNA analysis, and learn a new skill in the use of automatic classification tools for zooplankton identification. This was the first time that I have completed the laboratory processing for eDNA samples myself and therefore it has been a great opportunity to better understand the process and its implications for interpretating the results. Furthermore, the award enabled me to spend an extended period at BAS and deepen my connections within other researchers.