This table shows the organisms that were found in the study based on our 

. It displays the organisms matched for the 

 (often called a primer) selected in the dropdown below. Try changing the group to see what other organisms were found. Surprised by what you see? The defaults show organisms with a level 3 out of 5 in confidence, which means we left in some organisms that we weren't completely sure about but were likely to be good matches. Try clicking on the 

 button to change your confidence setting for the results and watch the organism list go up or down. 

Beta Diversity: How environmental variables relate to organism differences between communities





This chart is a principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of 

 which explores how different environmental variables might explain differences between the communities of organisms found at each site. Each point represents a sample placed on axes that are related to the environmental variable selected in the Variable dropdown. Dots close together mean that the organisms found in those samples are similar. Dots farther apart mean that the organisms found in those samples are quite different.   

Alpha diversity: How environmental variables relate to the number of organisms found in each sample


This chart reflects how the environmental variable you select in the dropdown might affect the variety of organisms observed within each sample or its 

. High alpha diversity means there are a lot of different organisms in the sample. Low alpha diversity means there were fewer different types of organisms found there.  

This table displays the percentage of samples that showed a positive qPCR result for each organism listed below.

This table displays the percentage of samples that showed a positive ddPCR result for each organism listed below.

Each histogram in this chart shows what percent of samples contained that organism on each date over the time span of the study. If you notice there are big jumps for a specific organism on a certain date, it’s a clue that something interesting could have happened that day like a disturbance event. Sometimes the changes in frequency of detecting an organism over time reflects its life cycle, its seasonality, or a sampling bias. You can also compare jumps on one day for one organism to other organisms -- check if the changes were across the whole community or just in a few places to explore if they might be related.

This chart lets you compare what samples or sites each organism appeared in by changing the "Show" dropdown below. If an organism only appears in certain samples or sites, it is a clue that there could be interesting features or activities nearby that explain the data. Maybe there is a dog food factory or a zoo right next to a site that explains why there are so many strange organisms in the sample!

The frequency of an organism's occurence at a site can be useful to determine if the eDNA assay is sensitive to the species and reflects the species' true distribution in the environment. Patterns of occurrence frequency can also help people plan their sampling strategies or uncover interesting features in an area that should be explored.

This chart lets you compare what organisms were found in the eDNA data in this location versus what was discovered in the same area by contributors to the 

 (GBIF) website.  The venn diagram shows the overlap in organisms found by eDNA and organisms found in GBIF (which is mostly visual data).

Species detected by eDNA vs. the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) site

 (GBIF) website. GBIF is a data aggregator, amassing datasets from museums, iNaturalist and eBIRD observers, botanical gardens and herbaria, and microbial culture collections around the world. Note that GBIF data is mostly visual so you will probably see more overlap if you select a primer in the dropdown that contains a lot of vertebrates or plants. 

Percent of samples that contain each species vs number of GBIF observations

Explore an analysis of this project with environmental data from Google Earth Engine that corresponds to the location of each sample. The charts below let you explore the impact of site location and 12 of these variables on Beta Diversity (community composition) and Alpha Diversity (species richness).  

You can also click the Download Icon below to get a CSV of 162 geospatial variables for all the locations in your data.  

LA River 2020-2021: Protecting Our River Seasonal Study

Overview

Last Updated

Project Timeline

Contributors

Tags from metadata

LA River 2020-2021: Protecting Our River Seasonal Study

Overview

Last Updated

Project Timeline

Contributors

Results