20.500.12556/DiRROS-29717 Spider Webs as Efficient Passive Samplers for Airborne Fungal eDNA in Forests: A Case Study With Hymenoscyphus fraxineus Monitoring airborne inoculum of pathogens is important for plant disease surveillance. Here, we evaluate spider webs as passive environmental DNA (eDNA) samplers for detecting the pathogenic fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the causal agent of ash dieback, in a forest environment. In a temperate mixed forest, we compared two types of spider webs (orb and sheet webs) with a conventional passive sampler (filter paper) over matched day (orb) and week (sheet) deployments. Laboratory validation confirmed that webs exposed to airborne spores from apothecia yield positive qPCR signals. Across seven field sampling campaigns, both a species-specific qPCR (Hfrax) and a broad fungal assay (FQ) detected fungal eDNA on spider webs more reliably and at higher relative quantities than on filter paper. In daily and weekly pairs, orb and sheet web vs. filters, the median ΔCq (filter − web) was above 4 for both qPCR assays (Wilcoxon paired, p < 0.05), which corresponds to more than a 10-fold difference in the amount of target DNA. This study provides proof of concept for using spider webs as scalable, low-cost tools suitable for targeted (qPCR) surveillance to complement aerobiological networks. airborne eDNA ash dieback forest pathogens Hymenoscyphus fraxineus passive sampling qPCR spider webs forest health eDNK v zraku odmiranje jesena gozdni patogeni Hymenoscyphus fraxineus pasivno vzorčenje qPCR pajkove mreže zdravje gozdov true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Znanstveno delo 2026-06-03 14:02:54 2026-06-03 14:02:54 2026-06-04 13:29:21 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 3. 6. 2026; str. 1-9 no. 3, e70315 Vol. 8 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 630*4 2637-4943 10.1002/edn3.70315 280330243 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/edn3.70315 1 290d02d7-5f44-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=44647 Environmental_DNA_-_2026_-_Kogovsek_-_Spider_Webs_as_Efficient_Passive_Samplers_for_Airborne_Fungal_eDNA_in_Forests__A_Case.pdf Environmental_DNA_-_2026_-_Kogovsek_-_Spider_Webs_as_Efficient_Passive_Samplers_for_Airborne_Fungal_eDNA_in_Forests__A_Case.pdf 1 A0E2B9627E6E46D82B4C8E9DEFD1AE9F cb1418494465cdda77230b61d1baab14ed895fe111cd03bef23e76a1d5654c1c 41595336-5f44-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=44648 Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije 0 0 0