Drinking water as a source of environmental DNA for the detection of terrestrial wildlife species

摘要: Use of environmental DNA for wildlife species detection is a field research that has seen rapid growth in recent years, however, the majority to date been focused on aquatic species. Here, we propose and test novel source terrestrial with DNA: drinking water from watering holes developments. We hypothesized when animals drink source, saliva buccal cells shed can be isolated identification. tested this hypothesis pilot study by filtering supplied coyotes (Canis latrans) at captive coyote facility. was successfully extracted filters, amplified polymerase chain reaction, sequenced, sequences were positively identified as belonging coyotes. believe based approach holds great promise conservation concern.