fundamentals of eDNA

Experimental methods are very similar to statistical methods in that there are many different options to chose from, but they you need to pick the best methods to get the most accurate results for your specific project. Each project works with different organisms, goals, variables, environment, and many other factors that are important to consider when deciding which methods to use. The paper we read focused on collection and extraction methods, and I think focusing on the first step of the study is important because if you start out on a bad food it is hard to get back on track and fix whatever went wrong. The basis of the methods we went over I class are similar to methods I have used in other studies. In my undergraduate marine and aquatics class we took a class trip to the Chesapeake Bay to conduct research projects and my groups project was focused on the phytoplankton and zooplankton community and how the population changed based on nitrogenous runoff levels. For this project we used Nalgene bottles and used chlorophyll as a measurement of phytoplankton, which we discussed in class. Even though I am new to the eDNA world, or maybe not as new as I thought, I could easily understand the methods which I appreciated. Methods in other scientific fields, such as biochemistry, neuroscience, or forensic biology to name a few may not be as easy to understand and would take higher level skills to perform. One question I had was when doing a pilot study to determine which collection/extraction method would work best for a certain study, obviously you are going to choose whichever method best detects what your study goal is, but how do you know that it is the method that is most accurately showing you what is happening in that environment. Or is this not an issue because DNA is either detected or not detected and the DNA is either there or not there. Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the different eDNA techniques and understanding why different people use different methods, and I think the information will be very useful for me in the future.