"Biodiversity is in the air – Biodiversity monitoring through the metabarcoding of airborne eDNA

Beskrivning

Biodiversity monitoring is a daunting task, traditionally requiring prohibitive amounts of time and taxonomic expertise. Metabarcoding and environmental DNA (eDNA) have propelled the field of biodiversity monitoring into a new era. Metabarcoding allows the simultaneous identification of multiple species using short characteristic gene sequences, while eDNA refers to the DNA released by organisms into water, sediment or air. In aquatic systems, metabarcoding of eDNA has proven to be a very sensitive and powerful tool to efficiently survey aquatic biodiversity. Here I will present the first evidence that the DNA from a wide variety of organisms, including insects, birds and mammals, can be collected from the air. This opens exciting opportunities for collaborations between molecular ecology and aerosol sciences to device new ways to monitor the world biodiversity at global scales.

Period	2021 apr. 21
Vid	Centrum för Aerosolforskning (CAST)