if I was a reviewer I would make them change the terms. they went for eDNA in the soil, but they also called it eDNA when collecting from skin swab, which by definition, isn’t eDNA (unless you’re trying to detect organisms that are in contact with the salamander). they are at best controls or sample confirmations. but I won’t call it eDNA.
However, I’ve had to review papers much worse than this. I’m only arguing semantics here, interesting paper though.
eDNA is the idea of taking a environmental sample like water or air, and finding traces of DNA and figuring out what creatures live in the area. you wouldn’t take a sample from an animal mouth to check for eDNA.
you could tell what salamanders live in a pond by getting eDNA from the water, but no real point in checking the DNA in the salamander mouth.
I’d be pretty impressed if salamanders readily incorporated environmental transposons into their genome. Don’t octopuses rewrite their genetics on the fly though? I think I remember reading something about that years ago
wait if it’s about eDNA? why were they swabbing salamander’s cheeks?
it’s environmental DNA.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Donald-Walker/publication/315115862_Methodological_considerations_for_detection_of_terrestrial_small-body_salamander_eDNA_and_implications_for_biodiversity_conservation/links/5b7c8beb299bf1d5a71b9476/Methodological-considerations-for-detection-of-terrestrial-small-body-salamander-eDNA-and-implications-for-biodiversity-conservation.pdf
thanks for the paper.
if I was a reviewer I would make them change the terms. they went for eDNA in the soil, but they also called it eDNA when collecting from skin swab, which by definition, isn’t eDNA (unless you’re trying to detect organisms that are in contact with the salamander). they are at best controls or sample confirmations. but I won’t call it eDNA.
However, I’ve had to review papers much worse than this. I’m only arguing semantics here, interesting paper though.
Maybe you’re trying to match individuals to dissemination, idk man neither of us were there
“How much DNA do salamanders absorb from the environment, and how much of that gets incorporated into their DNA?” I would assume.
WHAT?
eDNA is the idea of taking a environmental sample like water or air, and finding traces of DNA and figuring out what creatures live in the area. you wouldn’t take a sample from an animal mouth to check for eDNA.
you could tell what salamanders live in a pond by getting eDNA from the water, but no real point in checking the DNA in the salamander mouth.
maybe to double check results for testing.
I’d be pretty impressed if salamanders readily incorporated environmental transposons into their genome. Don’t octopuses rewrite their genetics on the fly though? I think I remember reading something about that years ago