Pepinelli Lab

Developing a non-invasive eDNA device to track Climate-Change-Induced Shifts in Plant-Pollinator Networks

Global climate change is altering plant communities, impacting organism and ecosystem health with uncertain effects due to limited monitoring. This project develops a non-invasive eDNA air-sampler for honey bee colonies to track plant flowering changes, engaging students and beekeepers, fostering innovation, while enabling monitoring of ecosystem changes and environmental stressors.

Proposal

Global climate change is producing novel biospheric conditions, presenting a threat to the stability of ecological systems and the health of organisms. Variation in climatic conditions is expected to facilitate phenological reshuffling within plant communities, impacting the plant-pollinator interface, and the release of allergenic pollen into the atmosphere. Impacts on plant, invertebrate, and human health remain unclear largely due to the variable nature of phenological reshuffling and insufficient monitoring of these trends. Large-scale temporal surveillance of plant community flowering has been difficult in the past due to logistical constraints. To address this, we will set out to develop and test a non-invasive Environmental DNA (eDNA) mini sampler device to sample air from honey bee colonies.

Why honey bees? Because the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is a prolific generalist pollinator, making them ideal candidates for rapidly collecting large quantities of pollen from study sites. Why air? The collection of eDNA from air is one of the most recent advances and relies on genetic material suspended in the air to detect and monitor biodiversity. Sampling airborne eDNA from honey bee hives will allow for the collection of DNA from a variety of organisms, including plants, animals, and microorganisms in a non-invasive way.

Simple sterile air filters will be used to collect eDNA from the colonies and will be analyzed in the laboratory using standards molecular biology techniques (DNA extraction and PCR). DNA will be sequenced using a portable sequencer– MinION, from Oxford Nanopore Technology. Data will be analyzed using a bioinformatics pipeline using QIIME2 to compile sequence reference databases and assign taxonomy based on GenBank records.

Using computer fans, 3D-printed parts, and solar-powered batteries, we will create a bee-safe airborne eDNA sampler, which will be installed in a modified honey bee hive inner cover. We’ll test different fan sizes, voltages, and models of 3D-printed accessories during prototyping. Once piloting is done, we will recruit and train Northern Ontario beekeepers to use the sampler and we will work together to implement a standardized sampling protocol.

This project will foster innovation and entrepreneurship at Laurentian University, engaging students in product design and development while empowering local beekeepers to independently collect data. In addition, the same air filter can potentially be screened for pesticides and agrochemicals, providing a great platform to detect stressors the bees are exposed to and inform beekeepers timely.

The desired outcomes of this project include creating an inclusive research environment that integrates diverse perspectives, promotes equitable participation, and acknowledges Indigenous knowledge systems. Metrics for success will include the diversity of participants, development of a new eDNA sampler, implementation of the technology and recruitment of beekeepers. We will seek integration of Indigenous, both students and beekeepers. The project will benefit students and researchers from diverse backgrounds by offering them meaningful opportunities to contribute to cutting-edge environmental DNA research. Additionally, the data and findings will be publicly available, fostering collaborative knowledge-sharing and empowering them to address climate-change-induce shifts in plant-pollinators networks.