环境DNA——洞穴生物研究中的新技术

中国洞穴数量多、分布广，洞穴生物资源丰富，传统生物多样性调查方法效率不高，受特殊环境影响而覆盖范围有限，一定程度上制约了中国洞穴生物多样性研究和保护工作的开展。环境DNA（eDNA）可通过从环境中提取洞穴生物的痕量DNA，利用PCR等技术对其多样性组成、生物量等进行定性和定量调查，将成为未来中国洞穴生物研究中使用的重要手段。文章对eDNA原理、在洞穴生物研究中的优势、目前取得的一些最新研究进展、主要工作流程和注意事项等进行评述，同时进一步分析中国开展相关研究所面临的问题，并展望eDNA在中国洞穴生物研究中的前景。

Environmental DNA: An emerging tool in studying cave organisms

China has enormous caves with diverse cave organisms. Many cave creatures have small population size and limited distribution. Therefore， the traditional survey on cave fauna may harm some rare or endangered cave species. Its low efficiency could also restrict the studies of cave biodiversity and conservation. As an emerging survey method， environmental DNA （eDNA） can be used to extract the trace DNA of cave organisms from the environment and to qualitatively or quantitatively investigate the cave biodiversity with the technology such as PCR. After reviewing the principles of eDNA， its advantages and current research status， we put forward a basic process for the application of eDNA in cave biological surveys. We expect that the eDNA can play an important role in future studies of biospeleology in China. To achieve this aim， a thorough database of DNA barcodes and a classic taxonomy for Chinese cave organisms are urgently needed.