Scientists measuring biodiversity have turned to an unlikely source: The digestive system of blood-sucking leeches.
The guts of tens of thousands of leeches revealed DNA signatures of diverse species living in a conserved area of Yunnan, China, providing evidence that the protected area is fostering biodiversity.
On land set aside for conservation, researchers typically measure biodiversity indirectly, through the evaluation of funding, staff numbers or levels of human disturbance within the region. This assumes that pouring money into the reserve, or the number of rangers, correlates with the number of species living there.
