The floating drone
Genetic material in a water sample can reveal what lives in a body of water. But what if a lake is inaccessible or no boat is available to collect samples? This is where a drone specially developed at WSL and the ETH Zurich can help researchers. Not only can it float on water, but it can also lower a pump with a filter on a rope into the water while flying. This allows large quantities of water to be filtered on site. The genetic material left by organisms in the water then accumulates in the filter. The researchers duplicate and decode this in the laboratory. By comparing it with already known sequences of genetic material, they can then determine which species the genetic material comes from.