E4D Fellow: Karma Sherub
Environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses for monitoring of wildlife species in the mountains of Bhutan
Project Duration: 2023 - 2027
Supervisor at ETH Zurich: Prof. Loïc Pellissier, Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution
Collaborators:
external pageProf. D.B. Gurung, external pageCollege of Natural Resources, external pageRoyal University of Bhutan
Partner institutions:
external pageCollege of Natural Resources, external pageRoyal University of Bhutan
Project Description
In Bhutan, livestock products and agricultural crops are the main sources of income for local communities. Still, this livelihood has been affected by wild animal attacks and depredation over the last few decades. Because of limited productive surfaces, the interface between wildlife and agriculture is even tighter, and the topographic complexity of the terrains renders wildlife monitoring difficult. To maintain the unaltered socio-cultural integrity of local communities, it is essential to have better information about the risk to design societal action for minimizing the conflict between humans and wildlife.
Biodiversity monitoring coupled with spatial modelling can support the design of guidelines for management and especially conflict avoidance. Through research and application, it has been demonstrated that occupancy models can be used for designing spatial planning and conservation actions, leading to better management of ecosystems. However, designing spatial occupancy models for management plans requires many occurrence data, which can be challenging to collect in rugged mountain terrains (e.g. Bhutan). However, novel species detection methods can counteract this drawback.
Fortunately, the emergence of new biomonitoring technologies such as eDNA analyses allows the scientific community to generate species inventories rapidly and has been suggested as effective environmental monitoring tools with higher detection capabilities and better cost-effectiveness than traditional methods. In this research project, I will develop a platform for CRISPR-Cas analyses to detect eDNA of mammalian species from the water samples to boost detection and identify the moments and the place when the livestock is most at risk from attacks as well as the crop-raiding. Hence the project will open new opportunities in the planning of socially, culturally, or technically innovative projects fostering strategies for the conservation of wildlife species, its detection, and management and planning for mitigating Human-wildlife conflict.