Dr Benjamin Allen1
1Ecosure, Brisbane, Australia, 2Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Biography:
Ben is a wildlife ecologist with over 20 years of experience across government, university and private sectors. A former Associate Professor of Wildlife Management, he specialises in wildlife monitoring and management, animal welfare and ethics, biosecurity, predation management and human-wildlife conflict, helping clients address wildlife research, monitoring and management challenges through practical, evidence-based solutions.
Abstract:
Private sector ecologists are on-ground throughout Australia's environments each day, offering a valuable opportunity to collect eDNA samples for a variety of purposes. However, there is often a lack of understanding of eDNA's capabilities, its relative advantages and disadvantages over other fauna sampling techniques, and/or an unfamiliarity with using eDNA to achieve business objectives. Opportunities to advance eDNA progress are missed without concerted effort to inform and train those with the most access to the environment. This presentation describes the outcomes of a SWOT analysis of eDNA, acoustic, and camera trapping surveillance techniques, along with some practical lessons learned while trying to implement a 'normal' passive fauna surveillance program. With respect to terrestrial fauna surveillance, these include: (1) all three techniques have unique advantages and disadvantages, (2) eDNA and acoustics share similar operational challenges (e.g. a limited but growing number of species-specific assays or recognizers), (3) users are more familiar with camera trapping, but are enthusiastic about eDNA and acoustics, (4) contamination of eDNA samples remains an issue for users, and (5) end-users are increasingly interested in operationalizing eDNA usage into common workflows but require a little more confidence in the expected outcomes. Supporting data storage and analysis infrastructure is also available for camera traps and acoustics, but less so for eDNA. As operational use of eDNA matures we expect that it will emerge as a core component of private sector fauna monitoring efforts that work best when used alongside other techniques to yield information impossible for others to obtain.