MSCA AIRDNA

Next to the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis is the biggest challenge humanity is facing today. To be able to address it, it is paramount to closely follow the state and trends of biodiversity at global scales. Because this is unfeasible with traditional monitoring, the last decade has seen a strong push for solutions to solve this challenge. ‘Environmental DNA’ (eDNA) has emerged as one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, especially in aquatic ecosystems, but in terrestrial ecosystem the problem remains unsolved.

In this project we test the potential to monitor species by eDNA collected from the air. external pageWe have previously shown that airborne animal DNA can be captured with air samplers, revealing the traces of hundreds of species of insects, vertebrates and more than ten other phyla.

Here, we will explore the full potential of this method by:

1. validating airborne eDNA sampling against data from the external pageSwiss biodiversity monitoring program

2. test if a external pagenetwork of air filter stations used for particulate matter monitoring can be co-opted for biodiversity monitoring and if the decade long filter archive contains an archive of biodiversity information

3. experimentally characterize airborne particles released by economically important insect species and pilot their targeted detection in environmental samples

We believe that airborne eDNA has the potential to unlock the key to a truly comprehensive and global biodiversity monitoring with many additional impactful applications including the monitoring and early detection of agricultural pests, invasive or endangered species and disease vectors.