Terrestrial biodiversity from airborne samples

Analysing airborne eDNA to assess terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity

Up until now, you have explored case studies involving water and soil samples. Now, let’s shift our focus to analysing airborne samples for assessing terrestrial biodiversity. For this we selected a published research that explores the potential of using airborne eDNA to monitor terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity. Air samples were collected at three locations within the Copenhagen Zoo and analysed through metabarcoding, detecting 49 vertebrate species across 26 orders and 37 families, including mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. These species encompassed zoo animals, local wildlife, and zoo feed species. The study found that closer proximity to the sampling device and higher animal biomass increased detection probability. The findings suggest that airborne eDNA can be a novel, effective tool for studying and monitoring terrestrial vertebrate communities (Lynggaard et al. 2022).

DNA barcode/s used for this study: Mitochondrial rRNA gene 16S

Sequencing technology: High throughput sequencing with Illumina MiSeq

To know more you can read the full article: Airborne environmental DNA for terrestrial vertebrate community monitoring.