Scientists have found a way to identify animals that have passed by and are already gone or are hiding too well to find – by vacuuming their DNA fingerprints out of the air.
Environmental DNA or “eDNA” is shed by organisms into their surroundings from things such as dead skin cells or feces. It has already been used to monitor biodiversity of animals that live in water or soil, from fish to microbes.
Now biologists and ecologists are excited about the invention of a way to use eDNA in the air to monitor land animals such as birds and mammals — especially vulnerable
