The environmental DNA trial may help scientists find nests or decide where to put traps.<\/p>\n
Leader of the trial, Bioeconomy Science Institute entomologist Andrew Pugh, said researchers were essentially leveraging waterways as natural collectors of genetic material.<\/p>\n
Water samples will be collected from a range of streams and small waterways around Auckland\u2019s North Shore.<\/p>\n
He said the same technology had been successfully used to detect pest wasps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this research exciting is this will be the first time eDNA testing has been used in a New Zealand biosecurity insect incursion response.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf successful, this work could help identify areas of hornet activity to quickly track down hard-to-find nests, and to optimise field deployment of surveillance traps.\u201d<\/p>\n
To find the best trapping method, the institute is testing traps in the Northern Hemisphere, where Asian hornets are established.<\/p>\n
Project lead, entomologist Natalie Page said the trial will run over several weeks starting across Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands between England and France.<\/p>\n
\u201cHornets in the Northern Hemisphere are currently in their active season rather than hibernation, providing a valuable opportunity to work with international partners to test different lure and trap combinations,\u201d Page said.<\/p>\n
More than 200 traps will be set up in collaboration with beekeepers in Jersey and hornet management specialists, who will report findings to New Zealand researchers.<\/p>\n
Victoria University professor of ecology and entomology Phil Lester said the DNA trial was a promising approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s goal for the yellow-legged hornet incursion is eradication,\u201d Lester said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is an ambitious objective, and one that has proven difficult to achieve elsewhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said any advances in surveillance capability could increase the likelihood of eradicating the pest.<\/p>\n
Lester said yellow-legged hornets are likely to arrive again, as they spread across Asia, Europe, and the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese projects will strengthen New Zealand\u2019s preparedness for future hornet incursions and other invasive insect threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
An expert in environmental biosecurity, Benjam\u00edn Dur\u00e1n-Vinet, said taking testing out of the lab and into the field could mean getting answers on the spot.<\/p>\n
He said this was a \u201cgame changer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly the kind of research and development capability that Aotearoa New Zealand \u2013 and the international biosecurity community \u2013 will increasingly need to protect our ecosystems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The environmental DNA trial may help scientists find nests or decide where to put traps. Leader of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[51,2220,19477,55,71994,78,111,139,69,218174,147,22974,15871,406,71992],"class_list":["post-582766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-auckland","tag-carter","tag-clues","tag-dna","tag-hornets","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sammy","tag-science","tag-track","tag-waterways","tag-wildlife","tag-yellowlegged"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}