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Airborne environmental DNA metabarcoding for the monitoring of terrestrial insects—A proof of concept from the field

Roger, Fabian LU ; Ghanavi, Hamid R. LU orcid ; Danielsson, Natalie LU ; Wahlberg, Niklas LU ; Löndahl, Jakob LU orcid ; Pettersson, Lars B. LU orcid ; Andersson, Georg K.S. LU orcid ; Boke Olén, Niklas LU and Clough, Yann LU (2022) In Environmental DNA 4(4). p.790-807
Abstract

Biodiversity is in decline due to human-induced pressures on ecosystems around the world. To be able to counteract this alarming trend, it is paramount to closely monitor biodiversity at global scales. Because this is practically impossible with traditional methods, the last decade has seen a strong push for new solutions. In aquatic ecosystems, the monitoring of species from environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, but in terrestrial ecosystems, the power of eDNA for monitoring has so far been hampered by the local scale of the samples. In this study, we report the successful detection of insects from airborne eDNA from samples taken in the field. We compare our results to two traditional... (More)

Biodiversity is in decline due to human-induced pressures on ecosystems around the world. To be able to counteract this alarming trend, it is paramount to closely monitor biodiversity at global scales. Because this is practically impossible with traditional methods, the last decade has seen a strong push for new solutions. In aquatic ecosystems, the monitoring of species from environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, but in terrestrial ecosystems, the power of eDNA for monitoring has so far been hampered by the local scale of the samples. In this study, we report the successful detection of insects from airborne eDNA from samples taken in the field. We compare our results to two traditional insect monitoring methods (1) light traps for moth monitoring and (2) transect walks for the monitoring of butterflies and wild bees. Airborne eDNA metabarcoding revealed DNA from six classes of arthropods, and twelve order of insects—including representatives from the four largest orders: Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles), and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants). We did not detect all species observed using traditional methods and suggest further directions for the development of airborne eDNA metabarcoding. We also recovered DNA from nine species of vertebrates, including frogs, birds, and mammals as well as from 12 other phyla. Airborne eDNA has the potential to become a powerful tool for terrestrial biodiversity monitoring, with many impactful applications including the monitoring of pests, invasive, or endangered species and disease vectors.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
aerosols, biodiversity, DNA barcoding, environmental DNA, Insecta
in
Environmental DNA
volume
4
issue
4
pages
18 pages
publisher
Wiley
external identifiers
  • scopus:85126021276
ISSN
2637-4943
DOI
10.1002/edn3.290
project
Biodiversity is in the air - metabarcoding of airborne e DNA for the biodiversity monitoring of flying insects
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d92e73b9-0d1c-41e2-94f2-c7008597b337
date added to LUP
2022-03-19 09:18:35
date last changed
2024-05-06 02:34:50
@article{d92e73b9-0d1c-41e2-94f2-c7008597b337,
  abstract     = {{<p>Biodiversity is in decline due to human-induced pressures on ecosystems around the world. To be able to counteract this alarming trend, it is paramount to closely monitor biodiversity at global scales. Because this is practically impossible with traditional methods, the last decade has seen a strong push for new solutions. In aquatic ecosystems, the monitoring of species from environmental DNA (eDNA) has emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, but in terrestrial ecosystems, the power of eDNA for monitoring has so far been hampered by the local scale of the samples. In this study, we report the successful detection of insects from airborne eDNA from samples taken in the field. We compare our results to two traditional insect monitoring methods (1) light traps for moth monitoring and (2) transect walks for the monitoring of butterflies and wild bees. Airborne eDNA metabarcoding revealed DNA from six classes of arthropods, and twelve order of insects—including representatives from the four largest orders: Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles), and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants). We did not detect all species observed using traditional methods and suggest further directions for the development of airborne eDNA metabarcoding. We also recovered DNA from nine species of vertebrates, including frogs, birds, and mammals as well as from 12 other phyla. Airborne eDNA has the potential to become a powerful tool for terrestrial biodiversity monitoring, with many impactful applications including the monitoring of pests, invasive, or endangered species and disease vectors.</p>}},
  author       = {{Roger, Fabian and Ghanavi, Hamid R. and Danielsson, Natalie and Wahlberg, Niklas and Löndahl, Jakob and Pettersson, Lars B. and Andersson, Georg K.S. and Boke Olén, Niklas and Clough, Yann}},
  issn         = {{2637-4943}},
  keywords     = {{aerosols; biodiversity; DNA barcoding; environmental DNA; Insecta}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{790--807}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley}},
  series       = {{Environmental DNA}},
  title        = {{Airborne environmental DNA metabarcoding for the monitoring of terrestrial insects—A proof of concept from the field}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/edn3.290}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/edn3.290}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}