Biomonitoring of Non-Native Species Through eDNA Metabarcoding Method and Risk Screening for Ballast Water in Northwest Türkiye

The exponential development of maritime transport has made ballast water a primary vector for the spread of invasive organisms across the aquatic realm. This research aims to present a comprehensive overview of methodological and bioinformatic considerations for eDNA metabarcoding applied to ballast water from ships in İzmit Gulf, northwest Türkiye, with an emphasis on non-native species. The data related to DNA sequences for COI, 18Sv8, 18Sv4, 16S, and 12S presented a broad diverse taxonomic group for both microbial and macroscopic species, even for rare ones, with numbers of 93, 191, 241, 19, and 44, respectively. Additionally, the research unveiled the presence of highly invasive species such as Rhopilema nomadica and identified their invasiveness risk for İzmit Gulf, primarily due to elevated water temperatures in relation to climate change. The outlined results indicate that metabarcoding offers a potential tool for early detection of non-indigenous species and implementing management plans in view of current global warming interactions.