Event Details

Dr Alex Bush presents results from the first large-scale biomonitoring studies to apply high-throughput DNA sequencing, how this differs from traditional approaches, and why such scalable technologies are crucial to address global biodiversity loss.

A major obstacle to conserving global biodiversity is the lack of ecological data we have that can identify ecosystem condition repeatedly to measure change. A major bottleneck for many groups is the cost of identifying the organisms present, but in the last decade the development of high-throughput DNA sequencing has presented us with the tools to explore all ecosystems in new ways. Despite its promise, very few regulatory authorities have yet adopted DNA sequencing for large-scale monitoring. Alex outlines the experiences so far from projects run by the Canadian government testing the use of metabarcoding for routine biomonitoring of rivers and wetlands. Evidence so far suggests DNA-based surveys are more efficient, more informative, and crucially, statistically more powerful measures of ecological change. Alex further discuss the context for why scalable technologies like DNA sequencing will be essential to tackle global biodiversity loss.