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Rare bird’s detection highlights promise of ‘environmental DNA’

Researchers are increasingly using traces of genetic material in the wild to track endangered species.
  1. Dyani Lewis
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DNA gathered from remote waterholes in northern Australia has been used to detect an endangered bird in the wild1 for the first time. The result is the latest milestone in the rapidly maturing science of environmental DNA, in which traces of genetic material from soil, water or ice are used to identify the presence of plants and animals.

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Nature 575, 423-424 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03522-3

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