Airborne DNA reveals synchronized responses of tropical forest assemblages to precipitation
- 1Jonah Ventures
Abstract
Tropical forests contain much of Earth's biodiversity, yet community-wide responses to seasonal climate transitions remain poorly resolved. We used weekly airborne environmental DNA sampling, supplemented by spatially intensive dry- and wet-season campaigns, to characterize fungi, plants, arthropods, and vertebrates across the dry-to-wet-season transition in a lowland tropical forest. All four assemblages shifted abruptly and nearly synchronously following rainfall late in the dry season, before the meteorological wet season began. These compositional transitions were largely independent of taxonomic richness and airborne DNA concentrations, indicating coordinated changes in detection patterns rather than simple seasonal gains in richness. Across all samples, we recovered more than 5,400 operational taxonomic units, including 2,148 fungi, 857 plants, 2,157 arthropods, and 239 vertebrates. We also recovered 949 full-length insect DNA barcodes, demonstrating compatibility with standard barcoding approaches and expanding opportunities for species discovery. Because the onset of the meteorological wet season showed no long-term trend at Barro Colorado Island, predicting future phenological and compositional shifts will require greater attention to dry-season rainfall variability and the cues that organisms track during this transition. Airborne environmental DNA offers a scalable, noninvasive framework for monitoring biodiversity and phenology across taxonomic groups.
Related
- Heterotrophic succession of invertebrate assemblages on fallen guava fruits in a tropical grove
- Different facets of diversity reveal different patterns of fish assemblages in tropical rivers: The Buyuan River (China)
- Active Filtration of Airborne eDNA for Vertebrate Surveys in Tropical Caves
- Functional Diversity Responses to Temperature Vary Spatially and With Protection Status in Wintering Waterbird Assemblages.
- Growth, Antioxidant, and Physiological Responses Associated with Tuber Yield in Cassava Under Irrigation and Late-Season Drought Conditions in a Tropical Savanna Climate
BibTeX
@misc{craine2026airborne,
title = {{Airborne DNA reveals synchronized responses of tropical forest assemblages to precipitation}},
author = {J. M. Craine and N. O. Schulte and J. Devitt and D. Leopold and M. Ralson and K. Saltonstall and N. Fierer},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.18.752615},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752615v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Airborne DNA reveals synchronized responses of tropical forest assemblages to precipitation
AU - J. M. Craine
AU - N. O. Schulte
AU - J. Devitt
AU - D. Leopold
AU - M. Ralson
AU - K. Saltonstall
AU - N. Fierer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.18.752615
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.18.752615v1
AB - Tropical forests contain much of Earth's biodiversity, yet community-wide responses to seasonal climate transitions remain poorly resolved. We used weekly airborne environmental DNA sampling, supplemented by spatially intensive dry- and wet-season campaigns, to characterize fungi, plants, arthropods, and vertebrates across the dry-to-wet-season transition in a lowland tropical forest. All four assemblages shifted abruptly and nearly synchronously following rainfall late in the dry season, before the meteorological wet season began. These compositional transitions were largely independent of taxonomic richness and airborne DNA concentrations, indicating coordinated changes in detection patterns rather than simple seasonal gains in richness. Across all samples, we recovered more than 5,400 operational taxonomic units, including 2,148 fungi, 857 plants, 2,157 arthropods, and 239 vertebrates. We also recovered 949 full-length insect DNA barcodes, demonstrating compatibility with standard barcoding approaches and expanding opportunities for species discovery. Because the onset of the meteorological wet season showed no long-term trend at Barro Colorado Island, predicting future phenological and compositional shifts will require greater attention to dry-season rainfall variability and the cues that organisms track during this transition. Airborne environmental DNA offers a scalable, noninvasive framework for monitoring biodiversity and phenology across taxonomic groups.
ER -