Dr. Erin Cameron, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science, is a co-author of a recently published paper in the journal Nature.
Researchers based at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland are using airborne DNA to map biodiversity. Dr. Cameron was part of an international, multidisciplinary team of scientists who used DNA sequencing to identify fungi from air samples collected around the world.
Dr. Cameron ran the collection site in Alberta along with another researcher, Dr. Tan Bao (MacEwan University). The team’s lead researchers were able to use DNA sequencing to identify fungi in the air samples collected by Dr. Cameron and others around the world.
This new method increases understanding of the climatic and evolutionary factors that influence spatial and seasonal variations of fungi. Mean annual air temperature was the strongest predictor of fungal species diversity, and polar and continental sites (including the site in Alberta) showed greater turnover in species composition across seasons than lower latitude sites. The importance of temperature suggests that warming climates will play a major role in restructuring fungal communities in the future.
For more about this method, read the full article in Nature: Airborne DNA reveals predictable spatial and seasonal dynamics of fungi.
This project is far from the first international collaboration for Dr. Cameron, whose research examines the effects of global change on species distributions, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. She is a key member of research teams that are building a global biodiversity network focusing on soil and the organisms that live in it. The effects of human activities on soil biodiversity and the organisms that live within—a vital part of a functioning ecosystem—are not yet fully understood, and the research conducted by Dr. Cameron and colleagues plays an important role in environmental conservation globally.
Dr. Cameron was recently awarded a grant through the eDNA Innovation Funding program from Genome Atlantic to test the use of eDNA methods as a tool to monitor microbial communities in grazed ecosystems.
Her previous work in this field includes:
“Tracking, Targeting, and Conserving Soil Biodiversity (Science Magazine)
SMU Researcher’s groundbreaking earthworm study on recent cover of Science Magazine (Science, 2019)