Citizens in the Lab: Performance and Validation of eDNA Results

Anders P. Tøttrup*, Lea Svenningsen, Maria Rytter, Marie Rathcke Lillemark, Peter Møller, Steen Wilhelm Knudsen

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

10 Citationer (Scopus)
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Abstract

Citizen Science has traditionally been applied in biodiversity monitoring, as the approach holds the potential for conducting large-scale data collections. However, involving citizens in more than data collection is still in its infancy. In this paper, we present the results of an ongoing citizen science project that expands the partnership between citizens and researchers by involving citizens in several parts of the scientific process. In the project, citizens first conduct sampling in the field, followed by analysis of their samples in our university laboratory. Finally, participants are interpreting the results of the laboratory analyses in collaboration with the researcher. The project aims to evaluate the presence of marine animals by monitoring the DNA left behind by the organisms in the environment (eDNA), using samples from the years 2017 and 2018. We found that citizens can carry out eDNA surveillance with an average success rate of 72% (where the success rate is defined as passing both the negative and positive control test) and that their data is of similar quality as a trained researcher and concur with known species distributions. Engaging and training citizen scientists in advanced laboratory analysis, such as the monitoring of eDNA in water samples, has promising applications for large-scale national monitoring of marine species that can be used in governmental mapping and monitoring efforts.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer35
TidsskriftCitizen Science: Theory and Practice
Vol/bind6
Udgave nummer1
Antal sider12
ISSN2057-4991
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2021

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank all the participants for their willingness to take part in the project. The authors would like to thank Sara Louise Borregaard Larsen, Sarah Isling Pærregaard, and Maja Elling Christensen for their help with DNA extraction, along with Pernille Vibeke Selmer Olsen for her guidance with the laboratory work. Pernille Hjort is thanked for her large contribution in establishing the project, and Henrik Carl is thanked for extracting data from the Danish Fish Atlas database. The project “DNA & Liv” was supported by the Innovation Fund Denmark (Grant J.nr. 104-2012-1), by the Lundbeck Foundation, and by the Danish Environmental Agency [Miljøstyrelsen].

Funding Information:
We would like to thank all the participants for their willingness to take part in the project. The authors would like to thank Sara Louise Borregaard Larsen, Sarah Isling P?rregaard, and Maja Elling Christensen for their help with DNA extraction, along with Pernille Vibeke Selmer Olsen for her guidance with the laboratory work. Pernille Hjort is thanked for her large contribution in establishing the project, and Henrik Carl is thanked for extracting data from the Danish Fish Atlas database. The project ?DNA & Liv? was supported by the Innovation Fund Denmark (Grant J.nr. 104-2012-1), by the Lundbeck Foundation, and by the Danish Environmental Agency [Milj?styrelsen].

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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