Nearly a year ago, eDNA surveys took place from Oak Glen to deep in the Coachella Valley, meandering through Pioneertown, Anza Borrego, the Salton Sea, and Palm Desert. Results are in! We are looking for volunteers to help us analyze the data. https://data.ucedna.com/research_projects/6
As a botanist from Palm Desert (a desert rat, as we call ourselves), I can’t help but highlight that we get some really cool plants in the eDNA results, including one of my favorites that perfumes the desert, creosote bush (Larrea). Oh, and we got both black bears and water bears (Tardigrades) in the eDNA, too.
Image from the web, no author name given. Eat your hearts out, tardigrade lovers. California is full of them (58 sites and counting).