Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 1353 Copenhagen, Denmark; Helmholtz Institute for One Health, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
Helmholtz Institute for One Health, 17489 Greifswald, Germany; Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Organisms, Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Viral Evolution, Robert Koch Institute Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
Curr Biol. 2023 Aug 21;33(16):R853-R854. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.031.
Terrestrial vertebrates are threatened by anthropogenic activities around the world. The rapid biodiversity loss that ensues is most intense in the tropics and affects ecosystem functions, such as seed dispersal, or may facilitate pathogen transmission. Monitoring vertebrate distributions is essential for understanding changes in biodiversity and ecosystems and also for adaptive management strategies. Environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches have the potential to play a key role in such efforts. Here, we explore whether eDNA swabbed from terrestrial vegetation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot is a useful tool for vertebrate biomonitoring. By swabbing leaves, we collected eDNA from 24 swabs at three locations in Kibale National Park, Uganda and used two metabarcoding systems to catalog the vertebrate taxa in the samples. We detected 52 wild vertebrate genera, including 26 avian and 24 mammalian genera; 30 of these assignments could be refined to the species level. We detected an average of 7.6 genera per swab. This approach, with its inexpensive and simple collection and DNA extraction, opens the door for inexpensive large-scale vertebrate biomonitoring.
陆生脊椎动物受到世界各地人类活动的威胁。随之而来的生物多样性迅速丧失在热带地区最为强烈，影响生态系统功能，如种子传播，或可能促进病原体传播。监测脊椎动物的分布对于了解生物多样性和生态系统的变化以及适应管理策略至关重要。环境 DNA（eDNA）方法有可能在这些努力中发挥关键作用。在这里，我们探讨了从乌干达基巴莱国家公园三个地点的陆地植被上擦拭的 eDNA 是否是脊椎动物生物监测的有用工具。通过擦拭叶片，我们从乌干达基巴莱国家公园的三个地点的 24 个拭子中收集了 eDNA，并使用两种代谢组学系统对样本中的脊椎动物分类群进行了编目。我们检测到 52 个野生脊椎动物属，包括 26 个鸟类和 24 个哺乳动物属；其中 30 个分配可以细化到种的水平。我们平均每个拭子检测到 7.6 个属。这种方法具有廉价且简单的采集和 DNA 提取特点，为廉价的大规模脊椎动物生物监测开辟了道路。
