Young Gary, Allen Benjamin L, Murray Peter J, Furlan Elise M
Institute for Life Sciences and the Environment University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba Queensland Australia.
Department of Environment and Science Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service Brisbane Queensland Australia.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Jun 5;15(6):e71509. doi: 10.1002/ece3.71509. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Environmental DNA (eDNA) has transformed biodiversity monitoring, especially in aquatic environments; yet, its application in terrestrial habitats remains limited. In arid regions, artificial waterbodies, such as farm dams and water troughs, serve as essential resources for wildlife and offer a promising but underutilised opportunity for eDNA-based detection. Here, we designed and validated a highly sensitive, species-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay to detect the nationally threatened southern squatter pigeon (). We validated the qPCR assay in the field by successfully detecting the target species at extremely low DNA concentrations (1 × 10 ng/μL; = 0.992) using both active syringe and passive filtration methods across multiple farm dams and water troughs on a 20,000-ha cattle property in northern Australia. To complement eDNA analysis, we also undertook standardised 20-min, 2-ha bird surveys at these sites. Positive detections were recorded at both trough and dam sites during the austral tropical dry season. Notably, whilst eDNA detections and visual bird counts aligned in terms of the number of occupied sites, their exact locations did not always coincide, highlighting the complementary nature of these two monitoring techniques. This assay represents a significant advancement in the conservation of this threatened ground-nesting species, demonstrating that eDNA sampling at artificial waterpoints is a viable tool for monitoring terrestrial fauna in remote, semi-arid landscapes.
环境DNA（eDNA）已经改变了生物多样性监测，尤其是在水生环境中；然而，其在陆地栖息地的应用仍然有限。在干旱地区，人工水体，如农场水坝和水槽，是野生动物的重要资源，并为基于eDNA的检测提供了一个有前景但未充分利用的机会。在这里，我们设计并验证了一种高度灵敏、物种特异性的定量PCR（qPCR）检测方法，用于检测国家濒危物种南方穴居鸽（）。我们在澳大利亚北部一个20000公顷的养牛场的多个农场水坝和水槽中，使用主动注射器和被动过滤方法，通过在极低DNA浓度（1×10 ng/μL； = 0.992）下成功检测到目标物种，在野外验证了qPCR检测方法。为了补充eDNA分析，我们还在这些地点进行了标准化的20分钟、2公顷鸟类调查。在澳大利亚热带旱季期间，在水槽和水坝地点都记录到了阳性检测结果。值得注意的是，虽然eDNA检测结果和目视鸟类计数在占用地点数量方面一致，但其确切位置并不总是重合，这突出了这两种监测技术的互补性。该检测方法代表了对这种濒危地栖物种保护的重大进展，表明在人工取水点进行eDNA采样是监测偏远半干旱景观中陆地动物群的一种可行工具。
