Recently, environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding approaches have been proposed to evaluate the status of freshwater ecosystems owing to various advantages, including fast and easy sampling and minimal habitat disruption from sampling. Therefore, as a case study, we applied eDNA metabarcoding techniques to evaluate the effects of an abandoned mine land located near a headwater stream of Nakdonggang River, South Korea, by examining benthic macroinvertebrate diversity and compared the results with those obtained using the traditional Surber-net sampling method. The number of genera was higher in Surbernet sampling (29) than in the eDNA analysis (20). The genus richness tended to decrease from headwater to downstream in eDNA analysis, whereas richness tended to decrease at sites with acid-sulfated sediment areas using Surber-net sampling. Through cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling, the sampling sites were differentiated into two parts: acid-sulfated and other sites using Surber-net sampling, whereas they were grouped into the two lowest downstream and other sites using eDNA sampling. To evaluate freshwater ecosystems using eDNA analysis in practical applications, it is necessary to constantly upgrade the methodologies and compare the data with field survey methods.

Abstract
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
    1. Ecological data
    2. Data analysis
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES

• Mi-Jung Bae(Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources)
• Seong-Nam Ham(Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources)
• Young-Kyung Lee(Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources)
• Eui-Jin Kim(Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources) Corresponding author