Using surface environmental DNA to assess arthropod biodiversity within a forested ecosystem
Surface eDNA swabs of tree bark and foliage recovered signal from over 1,000 arthropod taxa in a New Jersey forest.
By Michael C. Allen, Julie L. Lockwood, Rebecca Kwait, Andrea R. Vastano, Daniel L. Peterson, Lena A. Tkacenko, Alex Kisurin, Oliver C. Stringham, Jeffrey Angle, Brooke Jaffe in Research
November 6, 2023
Abstract
Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods are well established for aquatic biodiversity monitoring but remain comparatively untested for terrestrial arthropods. We collected 40 surface eDNA samples from tree bark and understory foliage within a New Jersey forest and applied two metabarcoding primer sets, recovering over 1,000 arthropod molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs), from which we identified 292 species across 181 families and 28 orders. These results provide proof-of-concept evidence that surface eDNA sampling is a feasible, non-invasive tool for surveying terrestrial arthropod communities, with potential applications in research, land management, and habitat restoration.