Scientists read 633 species from the air on one long drive across Western Australia

Every living thing leaves tiny traces of its DNA floating in the air — from skin, pollen and droppings too small to see. A Curtin University team drove more than 1,100 kilometres (about 680 miles) across Western Australia, from Cottesloe to Cocklebiddy on the road toward the Nullarbor, stopping about every 26 kilometres (about 16 miles) to collect air with a sampler mounted on their car. Back in the lab, those air samples named 633 different kinds of plants and animals — native wildlife, insects and unwelcome invasive species — and the mix changed as the land changed, from forest to farmland to dry inland country. Lead author Dr Joshua Newton, of Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, says the DNA in the air faithfully reflected the landscapes they drove through — a way to take a census of nature across a huge area without ever having to spot the animals themselves, and to catch pest species early.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: tech innovation