Only a fraction of nature's diversity, or species richness, is yet known, especially on the subject of insects and fungi, each of which contain hundreds of thousands of species still unknown to science. At the identical time, the lack of nature is increasing at an unprecedented pace, and researchers are racing against time to find unknown diversity and find ways to reserve it.
“Wind is a real treasure for natural research,” says Academy Research Fellow Neria Abrego from the University of Jyväskylä. “It's full of DNA from plants, fungi, bacteria, insects, mammals and other organisms.”
Information on global fungi in air samples
Abrego led a study published within the journal Science, which used DNA sequencing to discover fungi from air samples collected all over the world. This research generated ground-breaking knowledge of the climatic and evolutionary aspects that influence the occurrence and seasonal variation of each previously known and unknown fungi.
“This knowledge is essential not only for understanding where and when different fungal species thrive, but also for predicting their fate under ongoing global change,” Abrego says.
Monitoring and predicting biodiversity loss
Otso Ovaskainen, Academy Professor on the University of Jyväskylä, was involved within the research project and believes that such latest biodiversity sampling techniques will revolutionize biomonitoring and biodiversity predictions in the approaching years. Will construct. Using DNA in addition to photo and audio, Ovaskainen is leading a follow-up project studying fungi, insects, mammals, birds, bats and frogs at tons of of websites all over the world.
“There are more than a million species of insects in the samples already collected, far more species than science has ever described,” says Ovaskainen. “The sheer size of the data set makes analysis difficult. We have over a hundred years of sound, millions of camera trap images, and billions of DNA sequences.”
The most important activity of Ovaskainen's and Abrego's multidisciplinary research group is the event of statistical modeling, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence methods to make use of latest sorts of biodiversity data for accurate predictions.
New details about fungal diseases
Since just about all fungi are no less than partially airborne, this study included not only boletes and rassulas, but additionally, for instance, lichens, bract fungi, molds and yeasts.
“A particularly interesting topic for further research is a more detailed analysis of the sequences of fungi that are important to humans,” says Abrego. “These include fungal diseases of humans, crops and production animals, as well as fungi that indicate the progress of nature loss and the weakening of natural ecosystems.”
Abrigo is leading a project where air sampling and other latest research methods are being piloted as a part of the regular Finnish national forest inventory in cooperation with the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The project, funded by the Ministry of the Environment of Finland, goals to generate comprehensive information on biodiversity, particularly on previously underrepresented fungi and insects, which might later be utilized in decision-making processes. will be done