Publication
Airborne eDNA documents a diverse and ecologically complex tropical bat and other mammal community
Publisher:
Wiley
Date:
11-01-2023
DOI:
10.1002/EDN3.385
Abstract: Environmental (e)DNA has rapidly become a powerful biomonitoring tool, particularly in aquatic ecosystems. This approach has not been as widely adopted in terrestrial communities where the methods of vertebrate eDNA collection have varied from the use of secondary collectors such as blood feeding parasites and spider webs, to washing surfaces of leaves and soil s ling. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of direct collection of eDNA from air s ling, but none have tested how effective airborne eDNA s ling might be in a bio erse environment. We used three prototype s lers to actively s le a mixed neotropical bat community in a partially controlled environment. We assess whether airborne eDNA can accurately characterize a high ersity community with skewed abundances and to determine if filter design impacts DNA collection and taxonomic recovery. Our study provides evidence for the accuracy of airborne eDNA as a detection tool and highlights its potential for monitoring high density, erse assemblages such as bat roosts. Analysis of air s les recovered % of the species present and some limited relationship between species abundance and read count. Our data suggests this method can accurately depict a erse mixed‐mammal community, particularly when the location is contained (e.g., a roost, den or burrow) but also highlights the potential for secondary transfer of eDNA material on clothing and equipment. Our results also demonstrate that simple, inexpensive, battery‐operated homemade air s lers can collect an abundance of eDNA from the air, opening the opportunity for s ling in remote environments.