Metabarcoding Close to Home: Songbird Nests as eDNA Aggregators for Trophic Ecology and Biodiversity Studies.

ABSTRACT: Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling to monitor wildlife presence has mostly focused on water but increasingly includes soil, air, and creative biotic substrates like flowers and spiderwebs. Biotic substrates are unique in that they also provide insight into ecological interactions. Here we explore the ability of eDNA from songbird nests to reveal avian trophic ecology, such as nestling diet and nest predator identity, in addition to local insect biodiversity. Twenty-two nests comprising five New World sparrow species and two nonsparrow passerines were collected in a montane sagebrush steppe ecosystem shortly after confirmed nest predation events. A novel protocol was used to extract eDNA from whole nests, and each nest was sequenced twice-with and without a blocking oligonucleotide. The bloc

SUBMITTER: Kronenberger JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12518783 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature