BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-05)

I

t wasthestorythatcapturedthe

nation’simagination.Lastyear,an

internationalgroupofscientists,

nicknamedtheSuperNatural

Historyteam,hadcomecloserto

solvingoneofthemostenduring

mysteriestheworldhasever

known– doesNessieexist?

Fordecades,therehavebeen

reportedsightingsofa monstrous

creaturelurkinginLochNess.Butthe

enigmaticbeasthasalwaysavoided

detection,despitea numberofserious

investigationsusingthelikesof

submarinesandsonar.In2018,a team

ledbyProfessorNeilGemmell,from

theUniversityofOtagoinNewZealand,

spentseveralweeksontheScottishloch

collectingbucketloadsofwater,which

werehauledbacktoa labfortesting.

Whattheresearchershopedtofindin

thesesamplesweretelltaletracesleft

bythewildlifelivingintheloch– inthe

formofso-called‘environmentalDNA’.

Traditionally,scientistshavekepttrack

ofspeciesusingmonitoringmethodssuch

ascatchingandtagging,orcameratraps.

Buttechniquesliketheseareoftentime-

eDNA

THE NEW

NUMBERS

GAME

EnvironmentalDNAisthelatestgenetictechniquethatlookssetto

revolutionisethewaywesurveywildlifeandprotectbiodiversity.

THEeDNAREVOLUTION

bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008wpt

Report Jheni Osman

Illustration Elly Walton

NEWS FEATURE

32 BBC Wildlife May 2020

NEWS FEATURE