Reflections on Survey Design - Week 3
The paper “Environmental DNA (eDNA) Detection Probability is Influenced by Seasonal Activity of Organisms” (L. de Souza et al., 2016) provided a great reminder to truly consider your organisms or ecosystem of study as you design an eDNA study - how a “big-picture” mindset is vital when studying the natural environment in a molecular laboratory manner. When it comes to eDNA, since we so often think of it as an entity separate from the organism itself, it is easy to get caught up in the ease of ability to detect an organism in any water sample without thinking of the context in which a sample was collected. This is something that has been on my mind, especially when it comes to the idea of many folks within the Maine-eDNA program using the same samples for different analyses. The metadata we are collecting alongside the water samples will hopefully allow those using the index site samples to put them into context when it comes to their particular study and not just the project as a whole.
With an understanding of the natural history of your study organisms, eDNA studies thoughtfully planned out will hold much more power than randomly taken water samples when it comes to applying our results to conservation and policy management.