Brent Gilpin1, Dr Megan Devane1, William Taylor1, Cassandra Trent2
1ESR, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2Watercare Services Limited, Auckland, New Zealand
Most sampling of environmental waters and wastewater has typically been undertaken using a “grab sample”. Grab samples are easy and low cost, often using simply a bucket to scoop wastewater or water. This is however a snapshot of the single point in time that the sample is taken. Composite autosamplers which collect samples at set periods over up to 24 hours provide a more representative sample, but are expensive, bulky, and have limited deployment options.
To address the need for a more flexible composite auto sampler we designed a novel bag-based sampler that can be deployed into manholes, in rivers and coastal locations. The device is operated from a cell phone, can be programmed with a delayed start, collecting samples over periods ranging from 15 minutes to 24 hours.
Experiments were setup deploying the samplers into rivers where samples were within the same 24-hour period collected for either 24 hours, 4 hours (morning, afternoon or night) or as grab samples. eDNA profiles were generated from each sample and compared with differences in the diversity detected within each sample. The 24-hour composite sample had the largest diversity of organisms, with detection differences related to the frequency and prevalence of inputs from different sources.
This presentation will include a live demonstration of the SIPIT composite autosampler.
Biography:
Brent is a Senior Science Leader in the Environmental Science team at ESR where he has an applied focus that interfaces between research activities, outbreak investigations, and commercial work. As a molecular microbiologist I focus on the detection and characterisation of microorganisms, in particular Campylobacter, Listeria, Yersinia, E. coli and other enteric pathogens. Research activities include water quality, microbial source tracking, outbreak investigation, and wastewater based epidemiology.