Publications

*Denotes corresponding author ^ⱡDenotes undergraduate author

2025

Tournayre, O., Littlefair, J. E., Garrett, N.R., Allerton, J.J., Brown, A.S., Cristescu, M.E., Clare, E. L. First national survey of terrestrial biodiversity using airborne eDNA Scientific Reports 15, 19247 [open access]

Williams, M.A., Poultney, S.J., Hallam, J., Hewitson, T.E., Littlefair, J.E.* From anecdotes to evidence: Environmental DNA detection of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) at the southern limit of its circumpolar range Journal of Fish Biology [open access]

2023

Littlefair, J.E.*, Hleap, J.S., Palace, V., Rennie, M.D., Paterson M.J., Cristescu, M.E. Freshwater connectivity transforms spatially integrated signals of biodiversity Proceedings of the Royal Society B 290 (2006) 20230841 [open access]

Littlefair, J.E., Allerton, J.J., Brown, A.S., Butterfield, D.M., Robins, C., Economou, C.E., Garrett, N.R., Clare, E.L. (2023) Air-quality networks collect environmental DNA with the potential to measure biodiversity at continental scales Current Biology 33 (11) 426-428 [open access]

Kagzi, K., Millette, K.L., Littlefair, J.E., Pochon, X., Wood, S.A., Fussmann, G.F., Cristescu, M.E. (2023) Assessing the degradation of environmental DNA and RNA based on genomic origin in a metabarcoding context Environmental DNA 5 (5) 1016-1031 [open access]

Garrett, N., …(7 authors)…, Littlefair, J.E.*, Clare E.L. (2023) Airborne eDNA documents a diverse and ecologically complex tropical mammal community Environmental DNA 5 (2) 350-362 [open access]

Monchamp, M-E., …(17 authors including Littlefair, J.E.)…Gregory-Eaves, I. (2023) Applying molecular genetic resources to address the current state of freshwater biodiversity: A case study across a landscape with vast freshwater resources Biological Conservation 280:109963

2022

Littlefair, J.E.*, Rennie, M.D., Cristescu, M.E. (2022) Environmental nucleic acids: A field-based comparison for monitoring freshwater habitats using eDNA and eRNA Molecular Ecology Resources 22 (8), 2928-2940 [open access]

Lynggaard, C., Littlefair, J.E., Bohmann, K., Clare E.L. (2022) Shunning the scope: Sidestepping the race to publish iScience 25 (4) 104080 [PDF]

Clare E.L., Economou, C.K., Bennett, F.J., Dyer, C.E., Adams, K., McRobie, B., Drinkwater, R., Littlefair J.E. (2022) Measuring biodiversity from DNA in the air Current Biology 32 (3) 693-700 [PDF]

2021

Hleap, J.S., Littlefair, J.E., Steinke, D., Hebert P.D.N., Cristescu, M.E. (2021) Assessment of current taxonomic assignment strategies for metabarcoding eukaryotes. Molecular Ecology Resources 21 (7) 2190-2203 [PDF]

• See the write-up of our work by Dr Holly Bik for Molecular Ecology Resources
• Our work has the cover of Molecular Ecology Resources with great artwork by Suz Bateson @ATGCdesign

Littlefair, J. E.*, Hrenchuk, L.E., Blanchfield, P., Rennie, M., Cristescu, M.E. (2021) Thermal stratification and fish thermal preference explain vertical eDNA distributions in lakes Molecular Ecology 30 (13) 3083-3096 [PDF]

Clare, E.L., Economou, C.K., Faulkes, C.G., Gilbert, J.D., Bennett, F., Drinkwater, R., Littlefair J.E. eDNAir: proof of concept that animal DNA can be collected from air sampling PeerJ 9 e11030 [PDF]

Capo, E. et al (2021) Lake sedimentary DNA research on past terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity: Overview and recommendations Quaternary 4 (1), 6 [PDF]

2019

Gordon, R., Ivens, S., Ammerman, L., Fenton, B., Littlefair, J. E., Ratcliffe, J., Clare, E.L. (2019) Molecular diet analysis finds an insectivorous desert bat community dominated by resource sharing despite diverse echolocation and foraging strategies Ecology and Evolution 9 (6), 3117-3129 [PDF]

Littlefair, J.E.*, Zander, A., de Sena Costa, C. ^ⱡ, Clare, E.L. (2019) DNA meta-barcoding reveals elevation gradients in the contents of an invasive pitcher plant Molecular Ecology 28 (2) 281-292 [PDF]

2018

Brandon-Mong, G.-J., Littlefair, J.E., Sing, K.-W., Lee, Y.-P., Gan, H.-M., Clare, E. L., Wilson, J.J. (2018) Temporal changes in arthropod activity in tropical anthropogenic forests Bulletin of Entomological Research 108 (6), 792-799 [PDF]

Czenze, Z.J., Tucker, J.L., Littlefair, J.E., Clare, E.L., Brigham, R. M., Hickey, A. J. R., Parsons, S. (2018) Spatiotemporal and demographic variation in the diet of New Zealand Lesser Short-Tailed bats (Mystacina tuberculata). Ecology and Evolution 8(15): 7599-7610 [PDF]

Lim, V.-C., Clare, E.L., Littlefair, J.E., Ramli, R., Bhassu, S., Wilson J.J. (2018) Impact of urbanisation and agriculture on seed dispersal by fruit bats Urban Ecosystems 21:61-70 [PDF]

Eckert, I.M.K ^ⱡ., Littlefair J.E*., Chain, F.J.J., Crease, T., Cristescu, M. E. (2018) Bioinformatics for Biomonitoring: Species Detection and Diversity Estimates across Platforms and Tools Advances in Ecological Research 59, 1-32 [PDF]

2017

Littlefair, J.E.*, Laughton, A.M., Knell, R.J. (2017) Maternal pathogen exposure causes diet- and pathogen-specific transgenerational costs Oikos 126 (1): 82-90 [PDF]

2016

Littlefair, J.E.*, Knell, R.J. Within- and trans-generational effects of variation in dietary macronutrient content on life-history traits in the moth Plodia interpunctella PLoS ONE 11(12): e0168869 [PDF]

Littlefair, J.E.*, Clare, E.L., (2016) DNA barcoding the food chain: from Sanger to high-throughput sequencing Genome 59(11): 946-958 [PDF] (Barcodes to biomes special issue)

• This article was among the top ten most frequently viewed downloaded papers on Genome’s website of 2016.

Clare, E.L., Chain, F.J.J., Littlefair, J.E., Cristescu, M.E. (2016) The effects of parameter choice on defining molecular operational taxonomic units and resulting ecological analyses of metabarcoding data Genome 59: 981-990 [PDF]

Littlefair, J.E.*, Nunn, K., Knell, R.J. (2016) The development of a synthetic diet for investigating the effects of macronutrients on the development of Plodia interpunctella. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 159: 305–310 [PDF]

2013

Cotter, S. C., Littlefair, J. E., Grantham, P. J., & Kilner, R. M. (2013). A direct physiological trade-off between personal and social immunity. Journal of Animal Ecology. 82 (4): 846–853 (selected for entomology special issue) [PDF]

INDUSTRY-RELATED PUBLICATIONS

Littlefair, J.E*., Carreau, J., Webb, M., Öberg, M., Cristescu, M. (2017) “Environmental DNA (eDNA) as a next-generation biomonitoring tool”, a White Paper commissioned by William Sale Partnership (global company providing environmental management and consultancy services). [PDF]