From eDNA to citizen science: emerging tools for the early detection of invasive species

By E. Larson, Brittney M. Graham, R. Achury, Jaime J. Coon, Melissa K. Daniels, Daniel K Gambrell, Kacie L Jonasen, Gregory D. King, Nicholas Laracuente, Tolulope I N Perrin-Stowe and 6 more. 2020

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B invasions are one of many forms of anthropogenic change that threaten biodiversity, the structure and function of ecosystems, human health, and the global economy (Ehrenfeld 2010; Bradshaw et al. 2016). Once established in previously unoccupied areas, invasive species can be nearly impossible to eradicate. Early detection of incipient populations is therefore critical if control actions are to be both effective and affordable (Vander Zanden et al. 2010). Surveillance for new biological invasions is being transformed by changes in how the environment is monitored and who is doing the monitoring. Advances in technologies like remote sensing and environmental DNA (eDNA), in combination with the rise of vast citizenscience initiatives enabled by the internet and smartphones, are revolutionizing our ability to detect and respond to invasions (Steenweg et al. 2017; Allan et al. 2018). However, these changes are accompanied by a host of new logistical challenges, cost considerations, and data sharing and management hurdles that must be reconciled to put these emerging tools and their discoveries to best use (Packer et al. 2017). We review emerging approaches for surveillance of biological invasions and relate these technological changes to transformations being experienced by citizenscientist and government agency monitoring programs. We focus on developments and advances in molecular biology, chemical ecology, and remote sensing, as they relate to monitoring or surveillance for the detection of new invasions. We emphasize recent advances in surveillance tools, provide examples of successful applications of these tools for the early detection of biological invasions, and identify challenges to their implementation as well as potential solutions. We then discuss recent changes to citizen science and government agency invasive species monitoring programs in response to technological advancements, including internet databases and smartphone applications for identifying species and reporting their locations. Finally, we propose opportunities for these emerging surveillancebased approaches to be used jointly to improve our ability to detect and respond to newly arrived invaders. From eDNA to citizen science: emerging tools for the early detection of invasive species

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a245ae37b59d696256030f2e12b42c6d8183de3