Published by
Mongabay
Mongabay
Environmental DNA has changed the way conservationists monitor biodiversity. By sequencing the genetic material found in water and soil samples, scientists can study entire ecosystems or detect rare animals too elusive to track using traditional methods. Teams have used environmental DNA, or eDNA, to inventory everything from viruses and bacteria to plants and animals, from the slopes of Mount Everest to the depths of the ocean. Now, new research is opening up even greater possibilities. Several separate research groups have shown recently that eDNA can be extracted from thin air to identify n…