In a trio of studies, researchers report capturing and analyzing airborne environmental DNA from a wide variety of plants and animals, suggesting a new way of monitoring which terrestrial species are present in an area.
A New York Times investigation’s failure to amplify tuna DNA from Subway’s tuna salad sandwiches likely says more about the complexities of identifying processed fish than about the ingredients.
Monitoring the comings and goings of aquatic life with traces of DNA in water has become an established biomonitoring technique, but scientists are now using environmental DNA to assess terrestrial animals.
The discovery of ancient clades of brittle stars at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean adds to concerns that commercial exploitation of the area could destroy numerous taxa before they’ve even been identified.
Degraded DNA from museum specimens, scat, and other sources has thwarted barcoding efforts, but researchers are filling in the gaps with mini-versions of characteristic genomic stretches.