Workflow on ARMS-MBON Genomics Observatory data of hard-bottom communities

Background

Monitoring hard-bottom marine biodiversity can be challenging as it often involves non-standardised sampling methods that limit scalability and inter-comparison across different monitoring approaches. Therefore, it is essential to implement standardised techniques when assessing the status of and changes in marine communities, in order to give the correct information to support management policy and decisions, and to ensure the most appropriate level of protection for the biodiversity in each ecosystem. Biomonitoring methods need to comply with a number of criteria including the implementation of broadly accepted standards and protocols and the collection of FAIR data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).

Introduction

Artificial substrates represent a promising tool for monitoring community assemblages of hard-bottom habitats with a standardised methodology. The European ARMS project is a long-term observatory network in which about 20 institutions distributed across 14 European countries, including Greenland and Antarctica, collaborate. The network consists of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) which are deployed in the proximity of marine stations and Long-term Ecological Research sites. ARMS units are passive monitoring systems made of stacked settlement plates that are placed on the sea floor. The three-dimensional structure of the settlement units mimics the complexity of marine substrates and attracts sessile and motile benthic organisms. After a certain period of time these structures are brought up, and visual, photographic, and genetic (DNA metabarcoding) assessments are made of the lifeforms that have colonised them. These data are used to systematically assess the status of, and changes in, the hard-bottom communities of near-coast ecosystems.

Aims

ARMS data are quality controlled and open access, and they are permanently stored (Marine Data Archive) along with their metadata (IMIS, catalogue of VLIZ) ensuring data fairness. Data from ARMS observatories provide a promising early-warning system for marine biological invasions by: i) identifying newly arrived Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) at each ARMS site; ii) tracking the migration of already known NIS in European continental waters; iii) monitoring the composition of hard-bottom communities over longer periods; and iv) identifying the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) for hard-bottom fauna, including NIS.

The ARMS validation case was conceived to achieve these objectives: a data-analysis workflow was developed to process raw genetic data from ARMS; end-users can select ARMS samples from the ever-growing number available in collection; and raw DNA sequences are analysed using a bioinformatic pipeline (P.E.M.A.) embedded in the workflow for taxonomic identification. In the data-analysis workflow, the correct identification of taxa in each specific location is made with reference to WoRMS and WRiMS, webservices that are used to check respectively the identity of the organisms and whether they are introduced.

Identification

Date ( Creation ): 2019-07-04

Date ( Publication ): 2021-03-18

Status: Under development / Pre operational

Version: 1.0

Keywords: ARMS

Keywords: IJI

Access constraints: License

Use limitation: The final license will be available soon.

Point of contact

VLIZ - Katrina Exter

Custodian

LifeWatch ERIC ICT Core - Antonio José SÁENZ-ALBANÉS

Publisher

LifeWatch ERIC Service Centre - Lucia Vaira

Point of contact

Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research - Christina Pavloudi

Principal investigator

LifeWatch ERIC ICT Core - LifeWatch ERIC ICT Core

OnLine resource: Info page ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )

Service Name: ARMS File Extractor

Service Description: This service aims at getting the ARMS collection file from the IMIS database. It represents the Step 1.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/513bb1d2-6c85-4b89-aaad-17b143f47fa0

Service Name: ARMS Dataset Uploader

Service Description: This service aims to uploading a local file in the ARMS validation case. It represents the Step 2.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/645481ae-4d34-4268-904e-8f3859638eda

Service Name: ARMS Filter and Select

Service Description: This service allows to filter the list of samples in the MasterARMS csv file on date range. It represents the Step 3.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/d5fc9cac-ac51-4d4d-9b0d-d19d57a39474

Service Name: ARMS Choose and Parameterize

Service Description: This service allows to choose which column of the MasterARMS file contains the specific data to process. Moreover, it permits to provide additional files or arguments as parameters. It represents the Step 4.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/faf74533-882d-4941-b649-8ab7de4d7bd9

Service Name: PEMA Sequences Retriever

Service Description: This service aims to download the sequences files (fasq files) that have been choosen in Step 4 in order to run PEMA. It represents the Step 5.1

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/4d149fe6-5317-41c8-adde-f72e59d5511b

Service Name: PEMA Runner

Service Description: This service aims at running PEMA on all the sequences from the samples selected in Step 4. It represents the Step 5.2

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/dec7b713-9757-4941-8632-a9ed73a2c4a1

Service Name: ARMS OTU Unifier

Service Description: This service aims at creating an OTU table with species information that can be processed by WoRMS and WRIMS (steps 7 and 8). It represents the Step 6.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a4ff4000-dcb2-41a7-9c61-7bff4ae20507

Service Name: ARMS WoRMS Taxonomic Checker

Service Description: This service takes the OTU tables from the previous step (running the omics pipeline) and check it using the WoRMS taxon match webservice. It represents the Step 7

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/e9cb479f-9a36-4504-8d59-dd28520cec70

Service Name: ARMS WRIMS Invasive Checker

Service Description: This service takes the output from the previous step and uses the WRIMS taxon match webservice to check the known distribution of the species. It represents the Step 8.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/8df70810-490d-4dfd-964f-b73f28e34ba5

Service Name: PEMA Converter

Service Description: This service aims to reformat and produce final output in variuos formats for human and machine2machine reading. It represents the Step 9.

Service Reference (id): https://metadatacatalogue.lifewatch.eu/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/b2424f84-1eba-4cb6-9798-f4275fd24a97

Service Name: RvLab Runner

Service Description: This service aims at running various statistical analyses in RvLab on the produced data produced in this workflow. It represents the Step 10.