To counter the current biodiversity crisis, we need accurate information on what animals occur where. However, hampering all informed management and policy is a lack of efficient, non-invasive and scalable tools for comprehensive biodiversity surveys. To this end, my team and I recently showed that airborne particles contain DNA traces that can be used to detect landliving mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. In this presentation, I will talk about our journey from getting the crazy idea of vacuuming animal DNA from thin air to getting it funded, creating a DNA vacuum and making it work - and all the work that lies ahead to make airborne eDNA a usable tool in biodiversity surveys.

Kristine Bohmann is associate professor and deputy head of department for communication at Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, where she leads the Environmental DNA Group. Kristine and her team focus on eDNA metabarcoding and high-throughput sequencing to assess biodiversity. Their work spans eDNA time-series, diet, iDNA and technical studies - and the exploration of novel eDNA sample types. The latter includes the use of airborne eDNA to detect land-living animals. Kristine leads a research team dedicated to making airborne eDNA analysis a useful survey tool 'in the wild’ and ultimately capable of informing conservation efforts. This is made possible through funding from the Villum Foundation, Carlsberg Foundation, Hempel Foundation and Independent Research Fund Denmark.