This isn’t a citizen science project, but this is an example of eDNA projects that the CALeDNA community and labs help with. Guided by the Meyer Lab and Philpott Lab at UCSC, Ph.D. candidate Suzanne Lipton is investigating how dung beetles change the soil microbial community in pasturelands of California’s Central Coast. In May, Suzanne set up a 60 day in situ enclosure experiment across three ranches to see whether different dung beetle functional groups have different effects on the soil microbial community and soil organic carbon content. Working with undergraduate CAMINO interns Jorge Gomez Ortega (UCSC ‘23) and Kirra McColl (UCSC ‘24), and undergraduate SUPERDAR intern Karina Lopez (UCSC ‘25), Suzanne collected soil samples throughout the 60 day experiment. Over the summer Suzanne, Jorge, Kirra, and Karina will extract DNA from 216 soil samples collected over the course of the experiment in preparation for metabarcoding.
Dung beetle enclosures at Paicines Ranch, May 2022
Dung beetle larva growing in a dung ball, found in a soil sample from an enclosure, July 2022
Jorge Gomez Ortega (UCSC, BME ‘23) extracting DNA from soils in the lab, July 2022