Airborne eDNA captures three decades of ecosystem biodiversity

Alexis R. Sullivan; Edvin Karlsson; Daniel Svensson; Björn Brindefalk; Jose Antonio Lozano Villegas; Amanda Mikko; Daniel Bellieny; Abu Bakar Siddique; Anna‐Mia Johansson; Håkan Grahn; David Sundell; Anita J. Norman; Per‐Anders Esseen; Andreas Sjödin; Navinder J. Singh; Tomas Brodin; Mats Forsman; Per Stenberg

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67676-7

EcologyNature CommunicationsDec 18, 2025

Peer-reviewed journal article

Airborne eDNA captures three decades of ecosystem biodiversity

Alexis R. Sullivan iD, Edvin Karlsson iD, Daniel Svensson iD, Björn Brindefalk iD, Jose Antonio Lozano Villegas, Amanda Mikko iD, Daniel Bellieny, Abu Bakar Siddique iD, Anna‐Mia Johansson, Håkan Grahn iD, David Sundell iD, Anita J. Norman iD, Per‐Anders Esseen iD, Andreas Sjödin iD, Navinder J. Singh iD, Tomas Brodin iD, Mats Forsman iD, Per Stenberg iD

Abstract

Conserving biodiversity is a global imperative, yet our capacity to quantify and understand species occurrences has been limited. To help address this challenge, we develop a novel monitoring approach based on deep sequencing of airborne eDNA. When applied to a 34-year archive of weekly filters from an aerosol sampling station in northern Sweden, our methods enabled robust detection of over 2,700 genera across all domains of life and estimates of eDNA catchment areas. Reconstructed time series revealed regional biodiversity declines consistent with contemporary, large-scale transformations of forest composition and structure. Our results show airborne eDNA can reliably monitor biodiversity and underscore the immense latent potential in the thousands of aerosol monitoring stations deployed worldwide. One-Sentence SummaryDNA captured from air reveals organisms from all domains of life and their long-term trends.

PDF DOI