A single scoop of water from an Irish river revealed evidence not only of Ireland’s only frog species — as expected — but also signs of the dreaded B. dendrobatidis fungus, marking the first time this devastating amphibian disease has been spotted in the country and exposing a previously unknown risk to Ireland’s frog population.
That is the power of environmental DNA, or eDNA, as revealed in new research led by University of Florida biologist David Duffy, Ph.D., which traced the DNA harbored by the Avoca River from its origin in the Wicklow Mountains to where it spills into the Irish Sea.
Read more about How River DNA Can Track Fish, Frogs, Fungi and Human Feces — All at Once.
