Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity

Despite the roles they play in ecosystem function, animals have have long been neglected in the monitoring of ecological restoration. Vertebrate surveys can be time consuming and costly, often requiring multiple methodologies and taxonomic expertise, making comprehensive monitoring cost prohibitive....

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Van Der Heyde, Mieke, Bateman, Bill, Bunce, Michael, Wardell-Johnson, Grant, White, Nicole, Nevill, Paul
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: SPRINGER 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87409
_version_ 1848764912919117824
author Van Der Heyde, Mieke
Bateman, Bill
Bunce, Michael
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
White, Nicole
Nevill, Paul
author_facet Van Der Heyde, Mieke
Bateman, Bill
Bunce, Michael
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
White, Nicole
Nevill, Paul
author_sort Van Der Heyde, Mieke
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Despite the roles they play in ecosystem function, animals have have long been neglected in the monitoring of ecological restoration. Vertebrate surveys can be time consuming and costly, often requiring multiple methodologies and taxonomic expertise, making comprehensive monitoring cost prohibitive. Here, we evaluate a new method of assessing mammal and bird diversity through the genetic identification of scat collections. Using DNA metabarcoding of scat collections from three bioregions, we generated bird and mammalian assemblage data and distinguished between sites with different restoration histories. However, scat detectability was affected by environmental conditions (e.g. rainfall and vegetative cover), suggesting that our approach is most applicable at certain times of year or in arid (or semi-arid) environments with rocky soils, where conditions are favourable for scat preservation. Taken together these data provide a pathway to: plan, monitor and establish best-practice when restoring landscapes and add to the growing body of literature on the value of DNA metabarcoding in biomonitoring applications.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:26:54Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-87409
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:26:54Z
publishDate 2021
publisher SPRINGER
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-874092022-02-03T08:57:23Z Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity Van Der Heyde, Mieke Bateman, Bill Bunce, Michael Wardell-Johnson, Grant White, Nicole Nevill, Paul Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Environmental Sciences Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology eDNA Vertebrate Scat Restoration Genomics Metabarcoding RESTORATION FAUNA DEGRADATION ABUNDANCE SIGNS Despite the roles they play in ecosystem function, animals have have long been neglected in the monitoring of ecological restoration. Vertebrate surveys can be time consuming and costly, often requiring multiple methodologies and taxonomic expertise, making comprehensive monitoring cost prohibitive. Here, we evaluate a new method of assessing mammal and bird diversity through the genetic identification of scat collections. Using DNA metabarcoding of scat collections from three bioregions, we generated bird and mammalian assemblage data and distinguished between sites with different restoration histories. However, scat detectability was affected by environmental conditions (e.g. rainfall and vegetative cover), suggesting that our approach is most applicable at certain times of year or in arid (or semi-arid) environments with rocky soils, where conditions are favourable for scat preservation. Taken together these data provide a pathway to: plan, monitor and establish best-practice when restoring landscapes and add to the growing body of literature on the value of DNA metabarcoding in biomonitoring applications. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87409 10.1007/s10531-021-02264-x English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 SPRINGER restricted
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biodiversity Conservation
Ecology
Environmental Sciences
Biodiversity & Conservation
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
eDNA
Vertebrate
Scat
Restoration
Genomics
Metabarcoding
RESTORATION
FAUNA
DEGRADATION
ABUNDANCE
SIGNS
Van Der Heyde, Mieke
Bateman, Bill
Bunce, Michael
Wardell-Johnson, Grant
White, Nicole
Nevill, Paul
Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
title Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
title_full Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
title_fullStr Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
title_full_unstemmed Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
title_short Scat DNA provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
title_sort scat dna provides important data for effective monitoring of mammal and bird biodiversity
topic Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biodiversity Conservation
Ecology
Environmental Sciences
Biodiversity & Conservation
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
eDNA
Vertebrate
Scat
Restoration
Genomics
Metabarcoding
RESTORATION
FAUNA
DEGRADATION
ABUNDANCE
SIGNS
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87409