Accidental discovery: Air quality sensors may be the answer to biodiversity tracking
New York
As global warming coupled with human factors is rapidly threatening ecology in the world, scientists are finding it hard to track biodiversity but the answer may lie with the air quality sensors.
The air quality sensors in air pollution monitoring systems can solve the riddle with huge past as well as current data, research by Joanne E Littlefair led group claimed.
These air quality monitoring systems are there in Central and North America, Europe and Asia and these, as per the study, keep samples that also contain environmental DNA or eDNA.
The eDNA can not only identify flora and fauna of a particular region or continent but it can also be used to locate or find rare animal species.
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Joanne E Littlefair studied samples collected by air pollution monitoring sites in South-West London near deer park and analyzed them.
And much to their surprise, they found DNAs of 180 species or organisms including plants, fungi, animals and insects that led to creating a map of their spread in the area.
It is worth noting that WWF in its recent report had claimed that there was a 69% percent decline in wildlife population since 1970 and called for monitoring species decline to quantify biodiversity.
But quantifying it is still a tough task for the want of standardized data and indicators.
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These issues can be resolved via air quality monitoring networks that take air quality samples in a repeatable strategy, thus containing historic data of decades on the ecology and biodiversity of a region.
“These systems have been collecting material for decades but, until now, we have not realized their potential for biodiversity monitoring.
We must immediately investigate their utility, begin preserving these data and engage in a program of analysis to determine their full value,” Littlefair said in a study published in Current Biology.
