Estimating animal abundance by genotyping single cells from the environment
We will be collecting whole cells shed by animals naturally into the water to develop an estimate of animal abundance. Credit: Will Richardson, Flickr, CC.
Our novel platform “emCell-Seq” combines custom fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and PCR-based methodologies to enable the collection and genotyping of individual emCells of species of interest from environmental samples.
This non-invasive methodology to estimate animal abundance is based on the capture of whole cells shed by animals naturally into the water (termed environmental metazoan cells or “emCells”), eliminating the need to directly sample and impact animals.
This method could replace conventional invasive techniques widely used in both biodiversity and fisheries management.
Lead: Haylea Miller