The Challenge
Traditional biodiversity tests such as quadrats, pitfall traps, aerial imagery, and electro-fishing are limited to specific taxa. They often capture only lagging indicators, favoring easily observed or robust species. This fragmented approach can lead to blind spots and additional costs in ecological health assessments.
Additionally, these methods typically extrapolate broader ecosystem success from the recovery of select species, assuming other life forms (like supporting flora or less-visible fauna) are following suit. This introduces a source of risk at reclamation sites, especially when ecosystem recovery hinges on complex interdependencies.
The Solution
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is transforming biodiversity monitoring by detecting genetic material shed into the environment by plants, wildlife, fish, insects, and microbes. Collected from water, soil, or air, testing DNA can provide a snapshot of nearly all living species in the ecosystem.
Key Benefits of eDNA for environmental monitoring:
Broad Biodiversity Detection: Captures a wide range of species from a single sample.
Early Warning Signals: Detects invasive species or loss of native species earlier than observational methods.
Integration & Efficiency: eDNA samples can be collected during routine water/soil monitoring and analyzed alongside chemical assays.
Cost-Effectiveness: Reduces need for multiple, species-specific surveys.
eDNA doesn’t require visual sightings or physical capture, making it ideal for detecting elusive or transient species. And with sequencing costs dropping exponentially over the last decade, implementing this test at scale is now more accessible than ever.
Koonkie’s Approach
Koonkie partners with mining groups to integrate eDNA monitoring seamlessly into their existing reclamation protocols. Our approach:
Enables early detection of biodiversity loss or invasive species.
Offers better-informed, real-time adjustments to reclamation efforts.
Simplifies sampling with high-throughput lab processing.
Provides quantitative, reproducible data on the presence and abundance of organisms.
In practice, eDNA captures early signals to determine if the land is on track to return to a healthy state by showing which species are returning and thriving, and which are not. Seasonal sampling builds a dynamic, time-resolved picture of ecosystem recovery.
Figure 1: The three primary categories of biodiversity monitoring, and the types of studies that overlap between each category. eDNA captures data from all domains.
About Koonkie
Koonkie's team of biologists, bioinformaticians, and computer scientists have the highly-specific expertise required to create a sampling plan, identify the organisms present in these environments, and track changes in their composition over time. Koonkie uses DNA sequencing and custom build analytics pipelines to decode which and how many organisms are present in specific samples, and any changes to species abundance over time. Utilizing this data, Koonkie can provide strategies to encourage more rapid and lower risk reclamation of mine sites.
Reach out to services@koonkie.com to schedule a consultation today.
Interested in learning more? Request a free download of our eDNA brochure!
