Dr Oliver Berry1, Dr Craig Sherman2, Dr Kevin Thiele3, Dr Anastasija Zaiko4, Dr Andreas Zwick5
1CSIRO Environomics Future Science Platform, Crawley, Australia, 2School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia, 3Taxonomy Australia, , Australia, 4Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand, 5CSIRO National Collections and Marine Infrastructure, Black Mountain, Australia
Australia’s environment is unique and valuable. But, its size, complexity and high biodiversity mean that it is often expensive and difficult to gather the information we need to manage it effectively.
eDNA analysis is revolutionising environmental monitoring because without needing to observe, collect or capture organisms it can accurately map their distributions at scale and at speed. Unsurprisingly eDNA analysis is being adopted widely by governments, industry and even citizen scientists as a uniquely universal approach to environmental measurement.
However, something is holding eDNA biomonitoring back. To identify a species with eDNA we need to know its uniquely diagnostic DNA sequence (A.K.A. DNA barcode). Yet, we know the DNA barcodes for only a small fraction of species. This means that most DNA sequences collected during typical eDNA surveys can’t be assigned to a species – they are “dark taxa”. Without a full library of reference DNA sequences we can’t make the most of eDNA’s amazing potential to cost-effectively provide the best information on environmental state and change.
CSIRO has created the technology to complete Australia’s DNA barcode library. The platform can generate the complete set of DNA barcodes (whole mtDNA, cpDNA) for any type of organism, from microbes to birds with a single cost-effective protocol. From 2022 we will start towards this significant goal in partnership with a consortium of end-users, biodiversity and biosecurity experts, state and federal governments and philanthropic organisations.
Biography:
Olly Berry is the Director of CSIRO’s R&D program in Environmental Genomics – the Environomics Future Science Platform. He has a background in spatial ecology, population genomics and environmental DNA. Olly is based in Perth and an acknowledged enthusiast for growing native plants, ocean swimming, and singing in an indi pop choir.