Determining microbial patterns in the forest canopy by linking environmental DNA data to remote sensing information

Microbial communities are some of the most diverse and abundant communities in the world and play an essential role in the processes and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Bacterial and fungal species in natural systems are understudied due to their small size, high diversity, and difficulties in cultivating them under laboratory conditions. Advances in molecular technology for detecting species through eDNA—genetic material that organisms release into their environment—have significantly improved species detection and study, but are rarely used in hard-to-sample areas like the forest canopy. Although microbial communities in the canopy are known to play a crucial role in tree nutrition and stress response, their spatial distribution across the canopy at a landscape scale remains largely unknown. In this regard, remote sensing data and products are particularly well-suited to provide valuable information for landscape-scale assessments, as they capture broad spatial patterns and consistently monitor environmental changes over large areas with efficiency. These products provide detailed information on aspects of the forest canopy, like biochemical properties (e.g. chlorophyll and water content), and biophysical properties like LAI, and shed light on the microbial habitat within. This study, therefore, aims to integrate eDNA-derived occurrence data with remote sensing products to explore the distribution and abundance of specific microbial families in the canopy of mixed forest ecosystems.