'Aerial metagenomics' best refers to which one of the following situations?
Show answer
Answer: A. Aerial metagenomics means sampling the air of a habitat and reading all the DNA in it at once. This shows which species, from microbes to animals, are present without catching them.
Watch for: 'Aerial' makes students think of birds or drones; it refers to air as the sample.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Wrong because it is not limited to birds; 'aerial' refers to the air sample.
- C. Wrong because it does not involve taking blood samples.
- D. Wrong because it collects DNA from air, not land or water samples.
Source to check: Studies on airborne environmental DNA, e.g. Clare et al., Current Biology (2022) and Lynggaard et al., Current Biology (2022)
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.