Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog obam here. For the last decade, armies of bark beetles have been devastating forest lands in California and other places, and scientists are fighting back. To do so, they asked citizen scientists a k a. The general public to trap the tiny bugs, which are as small as a grain of rice, and mail them back
to their labs for DNA studies. The only problem people don't generally keep laboratory grade preservatives at home, so how could the beatles DNA remain intact until it reached their labs. The answer researchers found resided in two common household products,
hand sanitizer and automobile anti freeze. According to a survey published in the journal Invertebrate Systematics, in expensive eteline glycol based automobile anti freeze and the same alcohol based hand sanitizer that we're all toting around bottles of now can each preserve bark beetle DNA for a week, making them
appropriate substitutes for lab grade preservatives. During the study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Florida, thirty three Ambrosia beetles were left for two to seven days in either ethanol the control hand sanitizer gel or propylene or ethanol based automobile anti freeze. The scientists set the samples outside where they would receive direct outdoor exposure. Afterward, the researchers checked the beatles intact DNA and found that
all methods worked equally well for preservation. We spoke with etomologists Sedonia Steininger, one of the studies authors, who hopes that these results will help increase the number of citizen science projects and participation. She said this is great for citizen science projects, but also for researchers who may be out in remote locations without access to their usual suite of preservatives. The results could mean professionals will be able
to sample more freely while incurring lower costs. According to Steininger, the group was happily surprised that both of the substitute preservatives not only worked, but worked for full seven days. She said, to our knowledge, no one else has ever looked at the preservation efficacy of these household products for storing DNA. She thinks that not many insect studies are being done today that require the mailing in of actual specimens, as preservation is a real issue when it comes to
conducting molecular analysis. Thus, the finding that hand sanitizer and anti freeze will preserve insect DNA may prompt more studies with actual specimens. The findings couldn't come sooner for those working on the bark beetle infestation. More than two thousand
species of bark beetles are found around the world. While many species attack already stressed and weakened trees, helping to clean up dead wood, non native bark beetles also attack healthy trees, sometimes wiping out entire tree species, but even native bark beetle species can wreak havoc on forests. In the last decade, bark beetle outbreaks have been increasing due to the warmer weather associated with climate change. In some areas,
this has devastated certain tree populations. In British Columbia, for example, eight percent of the pine trees have been killed from bark beetle infestation, and in the United States, millions of acres of forest land have been affected by the tiny insects, mostly in the Rocky Mountains and Western United States, including Colorado, Wyoming and drought stricken California. The Backyard Bark Beetle Venture was a citizen science project run by the researchers at
the University of Florida. The project used volunteers who trapped bark beetles in their yards, then sent them to the researchers who studied the beatles distribution and diversity. Researchers instructed volunteers on how to create a low cost bark beetle trap using a plastic bottle into a tan sanitizer or anti freeze is inserted. But although the Backyard Bark Beetle Project has come to an end, there are hundreds of citizen science projects occurring around the world today in fields
as diverse as ecology, astronomy, computer science, psychology, and engineering. Typically, volunteer years are involved in data collection, reporting, and analysis. If you are interested in helping out on a citizen science project, check out National Geographics field Scope at field scope dot org. Today's episode was written by Melanie rod Zekee McManus and produced by Tyler Klang. From one That's and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works
dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio For more podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.