Arthropods including insects and spiders are an integral component of forest food webs and ecosystems, provide the primary food source for many wildlife species, and are critical to maintain healthy forest ecosystems. Some arthropods are also important pest species – including both native, cyclical insects such as Eastern Spruce Budworm and introduced, potentially invasive insects, such as Emerald Ash Borer. It is critical to be able to measure forest biodiversity generally and detect these pest species, and while significant pest monitoring already occurs, a new approach may add increased ability to detect pests as well as biodiversity more broadly. Using environmental DNA ( eDNA) researchers will assess the ability to detect pest species in known infestations, emerging areas, or areas with small or no population detected and to determine at what scale environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling approaches may be used. A second objective of this project is to reduce barriers to successfully using an eDNA approach for forest managers. We will provide tools to support the identification of arthropod species by publishing sampling and laboratory protocols, and through development of a user-friendly data analysis framework and open-source software. One outcome of this work is that forest stakeholders would be better able to detect forest pests and biodiversity, in order to maintain healthy Northern Forest ecosystems, especially in light of these current and emerging threats. Thus, broader outcomes include positive impact on conserving the economic and indigenous cultural value of these resources, in addition to broader ecological and societal value.

Products Delivered:

Buchanan, M., Johnston, J. 2026. Detecting arthropods and invasive forest
insects using eDNA and COI gen amplification. University Day, University of Maine at PresqueIsle, Apr. 14-15, 2026.
https://www.umpi.edu/academics/university-day/abstracts/2026-abstracts/

Buchanan, M., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M. Detecting Native, Introduced, and Defoliating Forest Arthropods Using eDNA and COI Gene Amplification. Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium, April 25-26, 2026 (poster).
https://mdibl.org/conference/53rd-mbmss/

Dora, G., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M., Buchanan, M., Bugbee, A., Ryan, J., White, C., Ramsey, B., 2026. Watershed-scale field sampling for spruce budworm eDNA detection. University Day, University of Maine at Presque Isle, Apr. 14-15, https://www.umpi.edu/academics/university-day/abstracts/2026-abstracts/

Ramsey, R., LaPlante, B., Snow, B., White, C., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M. A Bioinformatics Toolset for Processing eDNA. University Day, University of Maine at Presque Isle, Apr. 15-16, 2025.
https://www.umpi.edu/academics/university-day/abstracts/2025-abstracts/

Ramsey, R., White, C., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M. A bioinformatics toolset for processing eDNA. Poster, Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium (MBMSS), MDI Biological Lab, Mount Desert Island, Maine, 2025.
https://mdibl.org/conference/52nd-mbmss/

Royer, M.E. 2026. Hands-on tutorial: Deploying open-source AI assistants for bioinformatics. Maine IDeA Data Science Conference, MDI Biological Laboratory, Mount Desert Island, Maine, February 27-28, 2026.
https://mdibl.org/conference/53rd-mbmss/

Ryan, J., Johnston, J, Wang, C. 2026. eDNA Water Sampling Sites and Their Catchments in Northern Maine. University Day, University of Maine at Presque Isle, Apr. 14-15, 2026. https://www.umpi.edu/academics/universityday/abstracts/2026-abstracts/

White, C., Ramsey, R., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M. 2026. Open-Source eDNA Data Pipeline for Arthropod Detection in the North Maine Woods. Maine IDeA Data Science Conference, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory,
February 27-28, 2026 (poster). https://mdibl.org/conference/53rd-mbmss/

White, C., Ramsey, R., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M. 2026. Open-Source eDNA data pipeline for arthropod detection. University Day, University of Maine at Presque Isle, Apr. 14-15, 2026. https://www.umpi.edu/academics/universityday/abstracts/2026-abstracts/

White, C., Ramsey, R., Johnston, J., Roe, J., Royer, M. 2026. Open-Source eDNA Data Pipeline for Arthropod Detection in the North Maine Woods. Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium, April 25-26, 2026 (poster).
https://mdibl.org/conference/53rd-mbmss

Student Involvement:

Milaya Buchanan, Abigail Bugbee, Garrett Dora, Michelle-Bailey Laplante, Joseph Ryan, Robert Ramsey, Ben Snow, Chandler White, BS (all)