Low level of anthropization linked to harsh vertebrate biodiversity declines in Amazonia.

Assessing the impact of human activity on ecosystems often links local biodiversity to disturbances measured within the same locality. However, remote disturbances may also affect local biodiversity. Here, we used environmental DNA metabarcoding to evaluate the relationships between vertebrate biodiversity (fish and mammals) and disturbance intensity in two Amazonian rivers.

Characterizing the spatial signal of environmental DNA in river systems using a community ecology approach.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is gaining a growing popularity among scientists but its applicability to biodiversity research and management remains limited in river systems by the lack of knowledge about the spatial extent of the downstream transport of eDNA. Here, we assessed the ability of eDNA inventories to retrieve spatial patterns of fish assemblages along two large and species-rich Neotropical rivers. We first examined overall community variation with distance through the distance decay of similarity and compared this pattern to capture-based samples.

Amazonian mammal monitoring using aquatic environmental DNA.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has emerged as one of the most efficient methods to assess aquatic species presence. While the method can in theory be used to investigate nonaquatic fauna, its development for inventorying semi-aquatic and terrestrial fauna is still at an early stage. Here we investigated the potential of aquatic eDNA metabarcoding for inventorying mammals in Neotropical environments, be they aquatic, semi-aquatic or terrestrial.

Aquatic eDNA for monitoring French Guiana biodiversity.

Background: Environmental DNA [eDNA] metabarcoding has recently emerged as a non-destructive alternative to traditional sampling for characterising species assemblages.

New Information: We here provide a consistent dataset synthetising all eDNA sampling sites in French Guiana to date. Field collections have been initiated in 2014 and have continued until 2019.

[Epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains isolated in Ile de France area during 2001].

Objective: The authors wanted to assess the level of Streptococcus pneumoniae antibiotic resistance in Ile de France.

Method: In 2001, 637 clinical strains of S. pneumoniae were prospectively collected from 32 microbiology laboratories.