Plant biodiversity and airborne pollen: next-generation sequencing of environmental DNA

Airborne pollens reflect differences in the species composition of the local flora and may capture the spreading of alien species. The air biomonitoring may also detect the flowering season of anemophilous taxa as well as the reproductive response of plants to environmental changes at a temporal and spatial scale. Aim of this research is to characterize the air biodiversity of different habitats - as coded by Natura 2000 and Corine Land Cover - through a DNA metabarcoding approach on environmental samples collected at ground level. The metabarcoding of environmental DNA will allow the taxonomic identification based on specific genetic markers, leading to an estimation of the biodiversity. The information gathered, complemented with results from traditional approaches, will eventually lead to a characterization of functional and compositional biodiversity in the study area, Eastern Italian Alps. This area can be considered as a case study for Alpine regions where land is exploited for different purposes: residential, cultural (including leisure, recreation and amenity) and natural environment quality (conservation and management)