ACCESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF METHODS FOR SURVEYING THE GREAT CRESTED NEWT TRITURUS CRISTATUS, EVALUATING THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DNA

Development in the efficiency and reliability of Triturus cristatus surveillance can help improve nature conservation and management, as well as our understanding of the newts fine scale distribution within Britain. Traditional survey methods are an adequate means for investigating T. cristatus populations, though their reliability is heavily disputed. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a new surveying method in animal conservation, with many aspects of reliability remaining untested. This research compares eDNA and traditional surveying methods (bottle trapping, torching and egg searching) and the robustness of these techniques in detecting abundance/density. Surveys were undertaken at 30 sites in total in the south of England and the north east of Wales by professionals and highly skilled volunteers who recorded site specific characteristics and surveyed specific characteristics, as well as T. cristatus. Non-parametric tests were required to determine the significant differences between methods, and the correlations between the technique used and different characteristics. eDNA was consistently more effective than torching and bottle trapping in detecting presence. For estimating abundance bottle trapping was a more reliable method in England, likely due to torchings sensitivity to vegetation cover (P =