The speaker, Tracy Simon, is the director of The Wildlife Conservation Society's molecular lab at the Bronx Zoo. She emphasizes the importance of protecting the planet's rich biodiversity, which is critical for scientific research and understanding the resources needed for conservation. Simon shares her career journey, which began with an interest in studying disease and mechanisms of disease, but later shifted to studying amphibians due to her husband's work in climate science.
She discusses her work with amphibians in high mountain environments, particularly in Peru, where she has been conducting continuous monitoring for over two decades. She explains how they collect Pleurodema marmaratum amphibians, which serve as indicator species, to understand how the environment is changing.
Simon's lab also develops portable technologies for field research, empowering researchers worldwide to conduct diagnostic testing on the spot. She mentions their work on developing e-DNA tests, which allow conservationists to search for rare and threatened species, perform biodiversity assessments, and look at all the organisms in an environment.
One of their significant projects involved an expedition to Mount Everest in 2019, where they collected water samples from 10 sites and performed e-DNA analysis. The results revealed an impressive diversity of taxonomic orders, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. This discovery highlights the rich biodiversity in high mountain environments and the need for conservation efforts.
Simon concludes by emphasizing the importance of being stewards of the earth and ensuring that future generations can benefit from the rich biodiversity on our planet.
1. The speaker, Tracy Simon, is the director of The Wildlife Conservation Society's molecular lab based at the Bronx Zoo.
2. The lab conducts diagnostic testing on animals in their collection, including PCR to monitor for different pathogens.
3. They also develop portable technologies for field use, empowering researchers worldwide to conduct diagnostic testing on the spot.
4. Simon's career trajectory has been circuitous, initially focused on cancer research, but later shifted to studying disease mechanisms and amphibians.
5. She was involved in a project studying the impact of climate change on high mountain environments in Peru.
6. The project involved monitoring amphibians in the upper reaches of the Andean ecosystem, particularly the Pleuredema marmaratum, which are indicator species.
7. The team swabs frogs to test for amphibian chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
8. As glaciers recede, new ponds form at higher elevations, creating environments where pollens get deposited, microbes grow, and soils form.
9. This process allows the growth of plants, which then bring up insects, leading to a rise in the biosphere in response to rising global temperatures.
10. The lab also has a research part where they take on projects with collaborators, some of which involve developing e-DNA tests.
11. These tests use DNA shed from organisms that exist in an environment, captured through water, soil, and air samples.
12. The lab has used e-DNA analysis for biodiversity assessment, such as on Mount Everest in 2019.
13. From 10 sites identified, over 20 liters of water were collected, which was then analyzed for e-DNA.
14. The analysis identified 187 taxonomic orders from 36 phyla, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals.
15. This discovery represents one-sixth of the global taxonomic orders, a remarkable finding considering the sites were above 4500 meters.
16. The lab is also working on a project to detect a rare turtle species in Vietnam, Rapidus, which is critically endangered.