A Chance Bobcat Sighting Leads to a novel eDNA Approach

Congratulations to the Whitney Laboratory team for their recently published paper, "A novel eDNA approach for rare species monitoring: Application of long-read shotgun sequencing to Lynx rufus soil pawprints" in Biological Conversation. 

A chance sighting of a bobcat at our research institute in northeast Florida in 2021 allowed soil pawprint samples to be collected and these, combined with subsequent zoo-housed bobcat eDNA samples in collaboration with the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, provided an opportunity to test the utility of eDNA approaches for a species for which no prior eDNA resources exist. 

This paves the way for the rapid deployment of eDNA approaches for any species of interest, without requiring laborious development of targeted approaches, thereby increasing the ease and utility of eDNA research for endangered species conservation and management.

Read the full paper in Biological Conversation:

A novel eDNA approach for rare species monitoring: Application of long-read shotgun sequencing to Lynx rufus soil pawprints

Image: Abby, an 8 year old bobcat (Lynx rufus) housed at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, photo by Jessica Stull