TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental DNA analysis as an emerging non-destructive method for plant biodiversity monitoring
T2 - a review
AU - Banerjee, Pritam
AU - Stewart, Kathryn A
AU - Dey, Gobinda
AU - Antognazza, Caterina M
AU - Sharma, Raju Kumar
AU - Maity, Jyoti Prakash
AU - Saha, Santanu
AU - Doi, Hideyuki
AU - de Vere, Natasha
AU - Chan, Michael W Y
AU - Lin, Pin-Yun
AU - Chao, Hung-Chun
AU - Chen, Chien-Yen
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan) for financial support (MOST 109- 2811-M-194-502; MOST 108-2811-M-194-510). P.B. has been supported by Overseas Research Scholarships (ORS) from National Chung Cheng University as well as Ministry of Education (MOE)-Industry-Academia project (Taiwan).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.
PY - 2022/8/31
Y1 - 2022/8/31
N2 - Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has recently transformed and modernized biodiversity monitoring. The accurate detection, and to some extent quantification, of organisms (individuals/populations/communities) in environmental samples is galvanizing eDNA as a successful cost and time-efficient biomonitoring technique. Currently, eDNA's application to plants remains more limited in implementation and scope compared to animals and microorganisms. This review evaluates the development of eDNA-based methods for (vascular) plants, comparing its performance and power of detection with that of traditional methods, to critically evaluate and advise best-practices needed to innovate plant biomonitoring. Recent advancements, standardization and field applications of eDNA-based methods have provided enough scope to utilize it in conservation biology for numerous organisms. Despite our review demonstrating only 13% of all eDNA studies focus on plant taxa to date, eDNA has considerable environmental DNA has considerable potential for plants, where successful detection of invasive, endangered and rare species, and community-level interpretations have provided proof-of-concept. Monitoring methods using eDNA were found to be equal or more effective than traditional methods; however, species detection increased when both methods were coupled. Additionally, eDNA methods were found to be effective in studying species interactions, community dynamics and even effects of anthropogenic pressure. Currently, elimination of potential obstacles (e.g. lack of relevant DNA reference libraries for plants) and the development of user-friendly protocols would greatly contribute to comprehensive eDNA-based plant monitoring programs. This is particularly needed in the data-depauperate tropics and for some plant groups (e.g., Bryophytes and Pteridophytes). We further advocate to coupling traditional methods with eDNA approaches, as the former is often cheaper and methodologically more straightforward, while the latter offers non-destructive approaches with increased discrimination ability. Furthermore, to make a global platform for eDNA, governmental and academic-industrial collaborations are essential to make eDNA surveys a broadly adopted and implemented, rapid, cost-effective and non-invasive plant monitoring approach.
AB - Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has recently transformed and modernized biodiversity monitoring. The accurate detection, and to some extent quantification, of organisms (individuals/populations/communities) in environmental samples is galvanizing eDNA as a successful cost and time-efficient biomonitoring technique. Currently, eDNA's application to plants remains more limited in implementation and scope compared to animals and microorganisms. This review evaluates the development of eDNA-based methods for (vascular) plants, comparing its performance and power of detection with that of traditional methods, to critically evaluate and advise best-practices needed to innovate plant biomonitoring. Recent advancements, standardization and field applications of eDNA-based methods have provided enough scope to utilize it in conservation biology for numerous organisms. Despite our review demonstrating only 13% of all eDNA studies focus on plant taxa to date, eDNA has considerable environmental DNA has considerable potential for plants, where successful detection of invasive, endangered and rare species, and community-level interpretations have provided proof-of-concept. Monitoring methods using eDNA were found to be equal or more effective than traditional methods; however, species detection increased when both methods were coupled. Additionally, eDNA methods were found to be effective in studying species interactions, community dynamics and even effects of anthropogenic pressure. Currently, elimination of potential obstacles (e.g. lack of relevant DNA reference libraries for plants) and the development of user-friendly protocols would greatly contribute to comprehensive eDNA-based plant monitoring programs. This is particularly needed in the data-depauperate tropics and for some plant groups (e.g., Bryophytes and Pteridophytes). We further advocate to coupling traditional methods with eDNA approaches, as the former is often cheaper and methodologically more straightforward, while the latter offers non-destructive approaches with increased discrimination ability. Furthermore, to make a global platform for eDNA, governmental and academic-industrial collaborations are essential to make eDNA surveys a broadly adopted and implemented, rapid, cost-effective and non-invasive plant monitoring approach.
KW - DNA barcoding
KW - DNA metabarcoding
KW - environmental DNA (eDNA)
KW - molecular ecology
KW - non-destructive biodiversity monitoring
KW - plant conservation
KW - population management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141086371&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/aobpla/plac031
DO - 10.1093/aobpla/plac031
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 35990516
SN - 2041-2851
VL - 14
SP - plac031
JO - AoB PLANTS
JF - AoB PLANTS
IS - 4
M1 - plac031
ER -