Fig 1.
Map and pictures of study sites.
A) Map showing the sampling locations within Luambe and Lukusuzi National Parks (Mw: blue dot); B) CAM: Artificial pond in Luambe Camp; C) P2: Natural waterhole 1 in Luambe NP; D) P3: Natural waterhole 2 in Luambe NP; E) L1: Lukuzusi backwater site 1; F) L2: Lukuzusi backwater site 2; G) Mw: Mwendi Lagoon (sampling site for the in situ application National Parks (green), Game Management Reserves (light brown), Forest Reserves (light green), and unprotected areas (grey) are shown. Map created by the authors using public source data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Fig 2.
Primary terrestrial vertebrate taxa detected.
Detections are depicted across the five Zambian sampling sites eDNA primers sets (12S or 16S rRNA, or both) and sequencing technology (nanopore and Illumina sequencing, or both).
Fig 3.
Shared taxa detections between camera trap-based biodiversity monitoring and freshwater-based eDNA-based monitoring using nanopore and Illumina sequencing.
Taxonomic A) species, B) genus, and C) family detections. D) Examples of camera trap pictures: left: Blacksmith lapwing (Vanellus armatus) detected by all three approaches; middle: Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) detected by all three approaches; and right: Small-spotted Genet (Genetta genetta) detected by camera trapping and by nanopore sequencing on the family level (Viverridae sp.).
Fig 4.
Number of primary terrestrial vertebrate taxa accumulated over six days detected.
A) in situ eDNA and camera trapping; B) the two different primers used for in situ eDNA (12S and 16S rRNA); and C) by all approaches across the three sampling sites at the Mwendi Lagoon, Zambia.
Fig 5.
Primary terrestrial vertebrate taxa detected by in situ eDNA and camera trapping.
Detections are shown for three sampling point (A, B, C) at the Mwendi Lagoon, Zambia, across six consecutive sampling days (Methods). For eDNA detections, the primers 12S (●) and 16S (▲) rRNA are indicated.