Researchers were able to identify 74 species of animals by looking for DNA in air samples collected at two zoos. The experiment shows that free-floating DNA could be used to track wild animals, including endangered or invasive species, without needing to observe them directly.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) has shaken up how animal populations can be monitored, managed, and conserved. Instead of having to find physical evidence of animals—scales, fur, feces, or sightings—researchers can rely on the microscopic bits of genetic material that fall off creatures as they move around their environment. Merely taking a soil or water sample can give researchers a sense of an entire ecosystem.
But researchers have wondered whether air could provide the same level of information as soil and water. Last year, a UK-based team detected naked mole rat DNA by sampling air from the rodents’ burrows in a lab setting. (They also detected human DNA, presumably from the researchers who worked in the lab.) But proving the method’s success in open air was a different beast. To test the technique further, two research teams used a setting that included unmistakeable subjects: zoos in England and Denmark. Their twopapers are published today in Current Biology.
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To run their experiment, the scientists used a fan with a filter, drawing in air from within and around the zoo. The team then used polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—the same tech used in many covid-19 tests—to amplify the genetic information on the filter, essentially creating many copies of the genetic material they found. They were able to identify 25 species in the UK and 49 species in Denmark. In the UK study, eight of the identified species were animals native to the area rather than zoo inhabitants, while six non-zoo animals were detected in the Denmark study.
Elizabeth Clare, author of one of the studies, samples air for environmental DNA.Photo: Elizabeth Clare
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The closer to extinction a species creeps, the harder it is for it to be monitored. eDNA methods make that conservation work easier. It means keeping track of the last vaquitas and perhaps settling the debate over the fate of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Airborne DNA still requires more research, but Clare noted how quickly waterborne DNA became a widely used method in conservation. Perhaps the latest innovation in DNA surveys will happen sooner than we think.
