Ms Starsha Bird1, Dr Steve Archer2, Mr Alex Verry3, Dr Manpreet Dhami3, Dr Ang Mcgaughran1
1Te Aka Mātuatua School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, 2Resilient Agriculture Group, AgResearch, Palmerston North, New Zealand, 3Biocontrol & Molecular Ecology, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, Christchurch, New Zealand
Biography:
Dr. Ang McGaughran is a Senior Lecturer and PI of the Invasomics Lab at the University of Waikato. She has expertise in applying eco-genomic approaches to examine evolutionary processes and is particularly interested in elucidating how populations respond to rapid environmental change. Her primary research interests are in invasion biology, invasion genomics, and biomonitoring techniques (including eDNA in the context of both biodiversity and biosecurity).
Abstract:
airDNA is an emergent environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring technique focused on concentrating and sub-sampling airborne particles as biodiversity targets. This method has the potential to provide biodiversity data that complements standard methods based on water filtration. However, many of its various parameters still require testing and/or optimisation – for example, the deployment duration and spatial and temporal resolution of airDNA are not yet well-defined. Moreover, the extent to which biodiversity recovered from airDNA traps overlaps with that recovered from water filtration methods is unclear.
We tested three airDNA techniques with varying extents of temporal resolution that represent the current main deployment options for ecosystem surveys (i.e., high- and low-volume active samplers, passive samplers). These were deployed along a transect of increasing distance from a small aviary housing exotic birds not otherwise found in the wild in Aotearoa New Zealand, with water-based eDNA samples also collected. We used this data to assess the ability of airDNA to: (i) detect species from a constrained biodiversity catalogue; (ii) identify plants and insects, as well as native and non-native birds; (iii) determine temporal and spatial resolution characteristics of airDNA; and (iv) identify differences and similarities in biodiversity detection between airDNA and water-based eDNA.
This talk will showcase our findings and their broader implications for biodiversity monitoring – ultimately offering insights into how airDNA methods might be used to enhance our understanding of the most effective ways to survey the tree of life.