Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/202610/10 I often say that some of the best applications of eDNA have yet to be imagined. This work makes me want to keep exploring them. Proud to share it with @alpineedna.bsky.social , Enrico van der Loo and Zora Doppmann! doi.org/10.1111/1755... 010 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/20267/10 The stream-to-lake transition stood out too. Lake surface samples contained different communities from those in the inflowing streams. Upstream biodiversity was only partly represented at the lake surface. Where does the incoming eDNA go? 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/20265/10 Metazoan and plant eDNA gave different pictures. We detected metazoan diversity in all three states, but plant eDNA only in the membrane-bound state. Why could we amplify metazoan eDNA from the other states, but not plant eDNA? 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/20264/10 Membrane-bound eDNA contained 87.8% of all detected COI sequence variants. Adsorbed and dissolved eDNA added diversity absent from that fraction. Why was some biodiversity information detectable only in particular states? 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/20263/10 We applied those methods to water from 221 sites in 58 streams across eight Swiss lake catchments. We used metabarcoding markers targeting metazoans and plants to ask whether the patterns held across both groups. 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/20262/10 When we collect eDNA from water, we collect a mixture: membrane-bound, adsorbed and dissolved DNA. Do these states tell us about the same biodiversity? Do they follow the same transport patterns? We developed methods to study them separately. 110 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 29/09/20261/10 I spent my PhD at ETH Zürich building pieces of an eDNA puzzle. Now I see them fit together in our new paper! Years of method development, fieldwork and ideas that once seemed out of reach. Here is what we found, and what I think comes next. 110 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 12/08/20261/ Six years ago, during my master's, I developed one of the early prototypes of passive eDNA samplers.Now I find myself coming back to it, asking a slightly different question: What actually happens to eDNA once on these samplers? 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 22/05/2026A small piece of happy news: two papers we published in 2024 ended up in the top 10% most-read papers in their respective journals. It's so gratifying to know that our work is having an impact! 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 27/11/2025Most days I do my science at the University, and my art at home. Sometimes, I get to bring the art with me to the University. Great 2-day workshop with students from @ethz.ch and @uzh-ch.bsky.social. I was amazed to see how naturally everyone was able to pick up watercolor techniques and vision. 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 21/02/2025Interestingly, these patters were different for ITS plant marker and COI metazoan marker! How does the source organisms impact spatial and particle size distribution of their eDNA? Can we optimise our capture methods depending on the target group? More work to be done! (7/8) 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 21/02/2025Not just the number but also the type of taxa differ. Beta diversity plots show samples cluster by location (as expected) but also by capture method ! Your choice of methods can dramatically impact your eDNA results ! (6/8) 100 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 21/02/2025However, the metabarcoding results show more unintuitive patterns. Although the grab samples capture 100 times less DNA, the DNA it does capture represents significantly greater alpha diversity than that captured in tow nets. These results were consistent across all sites. (5/8) 110 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 21/02/2025We conducted the experiment in three different locations with varying water matrices: Switzerland, Montana, and Florida and found surprising consistent results ! First, we see that the tow nets (blue) captured ~100 times for DNA than grab sample filters (red). (4/8) 110 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 21/02/2025So here we tested whether increasing volume of water processed, indeed improved species diversity detection metabarcoding. We compared two extremes of volume-pore size combinations 1) 1L via 0.45 um filter and 2) 3500-7000 L filtered via 64 um tow net. (3/8) 101 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 21/02/2025The paper starts with a review of 300+ studies showing water volume depends on filter pore size. Thus, it may be intuitive to use larger pores to process more water and capture patchily distributed eDNA diversity. (2/8) 110 0
Anish Kirtane @dnasaur.bsky.social · 18/02/2025In this paper, we discuss how biologists using #eDNA in freshwater systems can benefit from integrating hydrological approaches to track the source of their eDNA, and how our understanding of water movement can be improved by using eDNA as a hydrological tracer (2/n) 110 0
