Monitoring stations that already test for pollution could have dual purpose of mapping declines in biodiversity, reveals new study
From owls to hedgehogs to fungi, genetic material from plants and animals is being inadvertently hoovered up by air-quality monitoring stations around the world, creating an untapped “vault of biodiversity data”, according to a new scientific paper.
Testing eDNA from two UK air-quality stations – one in a London park and another in a rural location outside Edinburgh – revealed the presence of more than 180 fungi, insects, mammals, birds and amphibians, including badgers, dormice, little owls, hedgehogs and smooth newts. Plant eDNA was also collected, including yarrow, daisies, nettles, wheat, soya beans and cabbages.
“This infrastructure may represent a tremendous opportunity to collect high-resolution biodiversity data on national scales,” Air monitoring networks, some of which have been running for decades, are concentrated in Europe, Asia, and central and north America, but some are also found across the global south.
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