1. The CALeDNA program: Citizen scientists and researchers inventory California's biodiversity
- Author
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Rachel S. Meyer, Miroslava Munguia Ramos, Meixi Lin, Teia M. Schweizer, Zachary Gold, Dannise Ruiz Ramos, Sabrina Shirazi, Gaurav Kandlikar, Wai-Yin Kwan, Emily E. Curd, Amanda Freise, Jordan Moberg Parker, Jason P. Sexton, Regina Wetzer, N. Dean Pentcheff, Adam R. Wall, Lenore Pipes, Ana Garcia-Vedrenne, Maura Palacios Mejia, Tiara Moore, Chloe Orland, Kimberly M. Ballare, Anna Worth, Eric Beraut, Emma L. Aronson, Rasmus Nielsen, Harris A. Lewin, Paul H. Barber, Jeff Wall, Nathan Kraft, Beth Shapiro, and Robert K. Wayne
- Subjects
biodiversity ,ecology ,natural resources ,earth and environmental sciences ,soil ,spatial variation ,microbiome ,environmental education ,species diversity ,community science ,citizen science ,Agriculture - Abstract
Climate change is leading to habitat shifts that threaten species persistence throughout California's unique ecosystems. Baseline biodiversity data would provide opportunities for habitats to be managed under short-term and long-term environmental change. Aiming to provide biodiversity data, the UC Conservation Genomics Consortium launched the California Environmental DNA (CALeDNA) program to be a citizen and community science biomonitoring initiative that uses environmental DNA (eDNA, DNA shed from organisms such as from fur, feces, spores, pollen or leaves). Now with results from 1,000 samples shared online, California biodiversity patterns are discoverable. Soil, sediment and water collected by researchers, undergraduates and the public reveal a new catalog of thousands of organisms that only slightly overlap with traditional survey bioinventories. The CALeDNA website lets users explore the taxonomic diversity in different ways, and researchers have created tools to help people new to eDNA to analyze community ecology patterns. Although eDNA results are not always precise, the program team is making progress to fit it into California's biodiversity management toolbox, such as for monitoring ecosystem recovery after invasive species removal or wildfire.
- Published
- 2021
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