Biology session

In ecological studies, a sample that reflects the structure of communities is needed in order to monitor community diversity, properly operate environmental rating systems, and develop environmental management plans. However, achieving a representative sample is not a simple task, as the reliability of samples is affected by a number of factors. When monitoring freshwater fish communities, the results can depend significantly on the selectivity of the sampling tools used, in addition to abiotic and biotic characteristics. Assessments based on environmental DNA sampling may be a promising complement or in the future, even an alternative to conventional tools. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on its applicability, for example, its effectiveness in different habitat types and organism groups has not been determined. In our work, we compared the results of traditional and environmental DNA sampling surveys to describe the fish fauna of Lake Balaton. We compared the number of species and species composition detectable by each method at the level of the whole lake and by habitat type, thus contributing to the exploration of the relative effectiveness of these methods.