Spider webs can capture DNA from passing large animals

January 31, 2024 2:59 AM

These Australian researchers think spider webs could be our secret weapon to understanding nature. While spider webs could not trap an elephant, their ability to trap minuscule fragments of DNA could change how scientists learn about wildlife, according to new Australian research. The Curtin University study on environmental DNA (eDNA) analysed 49 spider webs from the Perth Hills region and Perth Zoo, and identified the genetic signatures of 93 different animals. Among them were birds, native mammals, meerkats, and at the zoo — elephants. Lead author PhD candidate Joshua Newton said studying eDNA was a non-intrusive way of understanding the biodiversity of an ecosystem.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (5 comments total)

Spiders: Using the web to collect your information since around 400mya.
posted by Avelwood at 3:28 AM on January 31 [11 favorites]

This is so cool! eDNA is one of those new technologies that is actually changing science, unlike the ones that get a lot of hype in the media.

Spiders are generally just a cool ecological resource, synthesizing all kinds of things in their environments. I have a friend whose dissertation research showed that spiders along streams filled with migrating salmon are getting most of their energy from marine foodwebs via bugs that eat decomposing salmon.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:47 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]

And for those who want to read it, here's the original article, which is open access in iScience: Spider webs capture environmental DNA from terrestrial vertebrates
posted by hydropsyche at 4:51 AM on January 31 [4 favorites]

So Dr. Brundle needed to be less worried about flies and more worried about spider webs, plus, he shouldn’t have set up his lab in a zoo….
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:24 AM on January 31

When I read the summary, I thought that the spiders were capturing wildlife DNA on purpose, and was wondering what nefarious things they were planning to do with all this DNA.
posted by eye of newt at 12:54 PM on January 31 [4 favorites]