Determining the best source of eDNA for vertebrate survey applications

Presented by Tim Cutajar

PhD Candidate, University of NSW

Supervisors: Dr Jodi Rowley (AM, UNSW), Prof Alistair Poore (UNSW), Assoc Prof Kristine Bohmann (University of Copenhagen)

To conserve species, you need to know where they are, and when. This can be a challenging first step, with many species being difficult to detect. Environmental DNA (eDNA: trace DNA left by organisms in their environment) is heralded as a powerful solution to this, and it can now be sampled from many different habitats - not just water. But we haven't matched the proliferation of different eDNA sampling techniques with research into their relative performances, so deciding which to use is so far done by guesswork.

Tim Cutajar has just finished up some fieldwork to try to combat this. He has been in Panama collecting eDNA from water, blood-sucking flies, and even air, to find out which technique performs best for detecting individual species, ecological guilds, and total biodiversity.