eDNA THE NEW NUMBERS GAME

eDNA has been used to survey the poster child of British conservation – the great crested newt.

It was the story that captured the nation’s imagination. Last year, an international group of scientists, nicknamed the Super Natural History team, had come closer to solving one of the most enduring mysteries the world has ever known – does Nessie exist?

For decades, there have been reported sightings of a monstrous creature lurking in Loch Ness. But the enigmatic beast has always avoided detection, despite a number of serious investigations using the likes of submarines and sonar. In 2018, a team led by Professor Neil Gemmell, from the University of Otago in New Zealand, spent several weeks on the Scottish loch collecting bucketloads of water, which were hauled back to a lab for testing. What