Drones have revealed information about animals that live in tree canopies by simply brushing branches and collecting loose particles of environmental DNA on sticky surfaces
technology
January 18, 2023
Drones partially wrapped in sticky tape can collect DNA from the branches of tall trees and reveal which animals live in that habitat.
The collection of environmental DNA (eDNA), derived from the shed cells, excreta, and blood of organisms, has revolutionized wildlife research. You don’t have to physically see and capture an animal to collect a sample, you just need to analyze the DNA that the animal leaves in its surroundings.
People have often harvested such DNA from water and air to catalog the animals that live there, but it is more difficult to reach the tree canopy. Now Stefano Mintscheff and his colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have developed a quadcopter his drone that can collect samples from branches dozens of meters above the ground.
In experiments in Switzerland, drones collected 14 samples from 7 different tree species and identified eDNA from 21 animal species, including insects, mammals and birds.
At the bottom of the 1.2kg fuselage are force sensors capable of detecting pressure from multiple directions and a fiberglass cage covered with adhesive tape or gauze soaked in a sugar solution that collects loose particles, including those left behind. is installed. by animals.
The drone is remotely guided to a branch, and an automatic control system takes over when it is in close range. Data from the force sensor is used to fork hard enough to collect the sample.
After a while, the drone will pull away from the branch and return to the ground, where people can retrieve samples for analysis.
Mintchev says that tree-dwelling communities are less well known than those that live in water systems or soil.
“It’s a biodiversity hotspot, and it’s not well understood because of the accessibility issues of how to get there to get samples,” he says. “Of course we can send climbers there. But we don’t always want to do that.”
Drones can visit the outer branches of a single tree, but Mintchev hopes to develop a device that can push deep into the canopy to collect samples.
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