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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
In their search for pink river dolphins, researchers in the Peruvian Amazon scooped up river water sloshing with genetic material that they hoped could trace the elusive creatures.
They found what they were looking for. And then some. The environmental DNA collected yielded information on 675 species, including dozens of land-based mammals like deer, jaguar, giant anteaters, monkeys and 25 species of bat.
"It's kind of mind blowing," said Kat Bruce, founder of the eDNA firm NatureMetrics, which carried out the study for the wildlife charity WWF.
The technology is increasingly used to track rare species. Bruce hopes eDNA will help revolutionise the way the world measures and monitors nature.
It is now at the heart of a $15 million dollar project with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to collect and analyse 30,000 freshwater samples over three years from major river systems—including the Amazon, Ganges and Mekong Delta.
With species in precipitous decline and growing calls for international targets on biodiversity protection, organisers say this "eBioAtlas" can help inform policy and focus scarce conservation resources.
"What the eBioAtlas will do in the middle of this mass extinction, is hopefully start to fill those gaps in in a way that is scalable," said Mike Morris, who heads the project for NatureMetrics, at an event showcasing the project at the IUCN conference in Marseille this week.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Wednesday September 08 2021, @02:14PM (2 children)
This is actually a great idea -- at least for well-watered regions! Everything biological makes it way to a water body.
Over time, such sampling can paint a very detailed picture of both seasonal variation and longer-term trends of organisms in entire ecosystems.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:23PM (1 child)
Reminds me of that company Theranos. If they told you from a sample of water there were 15 jaguars and 7 hippos this month, how would you even know?
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Friday October 01 2021, @04:26AM
Hahah.. Not sure. perhaps by the number of DNA amplification cycles needed to detect something in multiple samples at different dilutions?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 08 2021, @04:43PM (1 child)
Which just makes the whole thing ickier then it is. Almost all water out there have passed thru other things and the water usually just comes out one or two ways. Delicious recycled piss.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09 2021, @12:03AM
We breathe out more water than we either sweat or piss.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday September 08 2021, @09:47PM
> The technology is increasingly used to track rare species.
I wonder whether this can be applied to people. Sample in a few different places to determine where in the watershed a person has been...