fundamentals of eDNA

The first paper of the week, “Uses and Misuses of Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Science and Conservation” (Cristescu et al., 2018) provided a satisfactory overview of the current state of eDNA work, however, there were not any new revelations regarding the methods, limitations, or applications of eDNA in conservation work. Upon starting to read the paper, I was excited because the authors mentioned that this review differs from the others that currently exist in that they focus on the sources of error in eDNA work and its application to conservation, and I was interested in learning of situations where eDNA has been used in conservation policy. Unfortunately, there was not much on this topic in the review, as they still seemed to point out the same advantages and disadvantages as general eDNA review papers. The second paper, “Genomic Articulations of Indigeneity” (TallBear, 2013), lead to some fascinating discussion on genetics, cultural balance, and how our eDNA work is innately connected to those who use the land from which we sample. The concept of genetics defining your place in a culture, instead of the nurture and culture you experienced in your lifetime is becoming more prominent with the increased genetics information we have in the world, and I personally find it a fascinating and delicate balance. I was very interested in the discussion on how our eDNA work affects the indigenous populations who rely on the land, as I do believe that while eDNA is a non-invasive method to sample our environment, I believe the power we gain in our genomic data has yet to be fully realized, and how we properly use, distribute, and analyze this data is not an insignificant question.