Urban Barcode Research Project Team eDNA stability
Program:
Urban Barcode Research Project
Year:
2018-19
Research Topic:
Biodiversity & trade
Taxonomic Group Studied:
Plants

Project:

Viability of eDNA in a time series after collection
Students:
Neil Sarkar, Shubh Khanna
Institution:
American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan
Mentors:
Michael Tessler

Abstract:

The use of environmental DNA (eDNA), genetic material obtained directly from environmental samples, has proven useful for making progress in ecology, evolution, and conservation (Philip Thomsen, Eske Willerslev, Kristine Bohmann, Alice Evans et al. 2014). eDNA is revolutionizing the field and leading to rapid advances in surveying the species in an environment. Metabarcoding using environmental DNA (eDNA) is a growing field of research with promising potential to distinguish species in microbiomes for surveys and for general ecological studies. Based on our prior data, it is clear that a modest amount of physical degradation (in terms of quantity) of DNA is observable over a two week period. If DNA degrades at an even rate across samples and species, then this loss should have little impact However, the opposite could be true and the degradation could plausibly be at the point where species composition and abundance loses precision and is therefore damaging to the research quality.

Poster:

DNA Barcoding Poster
View team poster (PDF/PowerPoint)

Team samples: