Far from being just road grime, bug splatters on licence plates are unlocking clues about insect biodiversity in Aotearoa. University of Auckland geneticists Dr Aimee van der Reis and Dr Richard O’Rorke discuss DNADRV—a citizen science project demonstrating how simple car rides can lead to scientific discoveries.
The idea of collecting insect DNA from car licence plates didn’t start with a single “Eureka!” moment for Auckland geneticists Dr Aimee van der Reis and Dr Richard O’Rorke. It grew slowly—from what Richard calls “a constellation of issues and things”—through conversations and curiosity. “I think the best science comes from just having conversations,” he says. “Somehow you just slowly work your way towards resolving something.” And for both of them, those conversations began with a shared challenge. They both have experience in environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring—Richard in freshwater, Aimee in marine ecosystems—fields where sampling techniques make it possible to survey vast stretches of water. But on land, they didn’t have access to an equivalent large-scale approach to monitor the nation’s insect biodiversity.
Their conversations led them to launch the DNADRV (DNA Drive) project in 2024 as a nationwide citizen science initiative. The idea is simple: start with a clean licence plate, swab it for any existing DNA, then take a drive. When the trip ends, swab again. Those new tiny fragments—DNA from insects and even traces of bacteria, fungi and plants—are then matched to the route the car travelled, revealing where species live and move. The project’s goal is ambitious: to collect 6,000 samples within a year, starting from mid-2025, and create a detailed map of insect life in Aotearoa.
License plates were chosen for their consistent, set area and flat surface, making them ideal for study design and replication. These avoided variables associated with other car parts, such as headlights, which come in various shapes and sizes. Metadata, such as car make, model and weather conditions, are also collected to account for potential variables, like the number plate’s height off the ground.
The project conducted an initial trial run with the Auckland Veteran & Vintage Car Club in 2024. Its two-hour rally along the same route produced swabs teeming with insect DNA; fungus gnats dominated at 50%, followed by striped dung flies (14.7%) and coddling moths (9.3%). The rally also tested a hypothesis about whether slower speeds, typical in urban areas, worked just as well as faster speeds for collecting insect DNA—they do. The only difference was that faster speeds resulted in more insects ‘sticking’ to the plate.
Project benefits
- Exploring insect changes: Looks at how climate change, invasive species and pollinator declines are affecting insect populations. Collects real data to tackle the ‘insect Armageddon’ debate and check if insect life cycles are out of sync with food sources.
- Spotting ecological threats: Focuses on issues like invasive Vespula vulgaris (common wasp) and whether their DNA links to areas with fewer other insects.
- Building a big picture: Creates a strong baseline of data for long-term tracking, moving beyond just guesses or ‘feelings’.
- Connecting with nature: Highlights the familiar ‘windscreen effect’ and encourages people to notice what’s happening in their own environment.
Meet the scientists involved
Dr Aimee van der Reis grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and attended El Shaddai Christian School. Although she enjoyed science, she wasn’t sure what career path to take after high school, so she took a career test. “It was an interesting exercise at a relatively young age, reflecting on one’s interests and skills, and then being exposed to a multitude of career options I had never even heard of,” she says. She chose a BSc in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, which gave her some flexibility to switch into areas like medicine or engineering if she changed her mind. As it turned out, she didn’t. She loved the programme she’d picked and furthered her studies with a BSc Honours degree in Genetics before moving to New Zealand in 2016 to complete a PhD in Marine Science at the University of Auckland. Now, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Auckland’s School of Biological Sciences, she works in molecular ecology, using genetic tools to study ecosystems and the species that live within them.
Dr Richard O’Rorke’s path to science was anything but direct. Growing up in Te Kuiti, he spent much of his childhood outdoors before attending Hillcrest High School in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. His love of nature deepened through his uncle’s work with the rediscovery and restoration of the tāiko (Chatham Island petrel). At eight, the arrival of a family television sparked an obsession with natural history documentaries, which later fuelled his success in science fairs—earning enough prize money to buy a coveted pair of Dr. Martens boots. Despite this early interest, Richard initially pursued a BA in Philosophy, feeling more confident in the humanities. “In a way, I’m surprised I went to university because I wasn’t that confident in my abilities, but it was transformative being exposed to so many interesting ideas.” His passion for science reignited in his late 20s while reading popular science books. Missing creative and intellectual challenges, he returned to university as a mature student, earning a BSc and MSc from the University of Waikato and a PhD from the University of Auckland. Postdoctoral research took him to Hawaii and Wales, before returning to Auckland, where he is now a Research Associate in the School of Biological Sciences, working in conservation ecology—a field that unites his lifelong love of nature with scientific expertise.
Taking DNADRV into the classroom
In early 2025, St Patrick’s College in Wellington conducted the first DNADRV school ‘run’ to explore whether the project could be integrated into the curriculum. Before Aimee and Richard arrived, Year 9 Science Club students were introduced to the concept of DNA by Head of Science Doug Walker during a hands-on activity involving crude DNA extraction (a simplified and accelerated method of releasing DNA from cells) from kiwifruit. The fruit, like strawberries, has additional chromosomes thanks to generations of selective breeding, allowing strands of DNA to be seen with the naked eye. The students mashed the fruit, added a little detergent to break open the cells, and relied on natural proteases—enzymes that break down proteins—which are found in things like papaya and pineapple. Finally, they added some alcohol, which causes the DNA to clump together into easily visible, cloudy, white strands.
The students then used a DNADRV kit to collect DNA samples from licence plates to be processed when Aimee and Richard arrived with some lab equipment and reagents—the same as they use in their Auckland lab to process DNA. After completing the DNA extraction, the team conducted a PCR test to target a specific gene region, making multiple copies of it—essentially amplifying it to the point where it dominates everything else in the sample, which is helpful because the chosen gene region carries a lot of taxonomic information to help identify organisms.
For Aimee and Richard, it’s not just biology that the kits are teaching—DNA work also incorporates physics and chemistry. The students used gel electrophoresis to separate the amplified DNA according to their size. DNA has a negative charge, so when you connect an anode and a cathode across the gel, the DNA fragments are pulled toward the positive end. Then, light and energy are demonstrated by shining lights of a specific wavelength through the gel to excite dyes bound to the DNA, causing it to glow and making the bands visible. And chemistry: breaking open cells, using enzymes to clean up the sample and adding alcohol to separate the DNA.
“So, there’s a lot that can be really compacted into a single lesson,” Aimee says. “Even like maths, we got the students to have a competition because doing PCR is an exponential amplification of a gene region.”
Both scientists were impressed by the students’ critical thinking.
“When we were showing them their results, and we’re asking questions like ‘Why did we detect a rat and a mosquito?’,” says Aimee. “And then one student [suggested]: ‘It’s possible that you actually had the mosquito, but it fed on a rat.’ And it’s those links, those broader links, like critical thinking, that really get pushed at higher education, that were really amazing to see.”
Even understanding the concept of using BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) to compare biological sequences against large databases to find regions of similarity was easily understood by the students. “And that’s taught in the first year introductory to biology,” says Richard. “And it’s usually over a couple of days, but the students were quite at ease with it and almost just instantly did it. Like it was being so at home inside the technology that they could just take the DNA and BLAST it and then understand the output was impressive.”
Teacher Doug Walker said having the scientists visit was an extraordinary experience that brought “real-world science to life.” And for student William Moncrieff, it was: “…amazing that the equipment often used behind closed doors was right in front of us. I now have a deeper understanding and respect for forensic science because I know just how much you have to do to extract DNA from just one small sample.” Has it made William look at licence plates differently? “I would call them a breeding ground for bugs and bacteria!”
Citizen science
Richard says there’s a certain art in making citizen science projects fun and accessible, and having some “reward”, like a list of all the insects discovered, provides an additional incentive. He stresses the importance of collecting this data now, as it’s increasingly complex to predict what’s happening in insect communities. Studies show insects are emerging from hibernation at different times, often out of sync with their food sources and the plants they pollinate. Citizen science helps gather this information to identify unusual patterns. “I hope that people can see the value in what they’re contributing towards,” he says.
For Aimee, she’s enjoyed seeing the younger children engaged: “…whether those children become interested in a career in science later on, that’s sort of not relevant. We just want them to be interested in what’s going on around them and perhaps spark some conversations about the environment we live in.” After attending the NZ International Science Festival, Aimee realised the project was also rewarding in a cross-generational way, with many children attending with their grandparents. “So, you’re skipping a generation and explaining to two very different generations. And then that’s where the ‘windscreen effect’ came in, because we had the older generation telling us how they used to always see a lot more insects [on their windscreens]. So, you’re touching on a topic that maybe they would have never spoken about otherwise.”
Conclusion
Taking a drive isn’t quite the same for the scientists now. For Richard, who had never paid attention to his number plate after a trip, the project changed the way he sees his journeys. He now notices the connection between landscapes and insect diversity. “It surprised me that [the project] created a sort of attentional and maybe an emotional change in me just by doing it.”
Aimee feels it too, adding: “And now there’s like an element of disappointment when there’s nothing on the number plates.” Richard agrees: “Sometimes I think: ‘I thought this was premium insect kind of landscape’ and there’s nothing!”
The simplicity of the project appeals to Richard, turning what would usually be discarded into something scientifically valuable. “There’s real value in thinking about what things we just discard or wash away that we could actually use to learn a bit more about the environment. So, you don’t need to go out of your way with fancy equipment to design things…sometimes it’s just sitting there ready to be taken advantage of.”
If you’d like to be a part of the project, feel free to contact the team through the DNADRV website.
Ngā kupu
mātauranga pītau ira: DNA knowledge
motokā: car
mū: insect
pereti raihana: licence plate
pītau ira: deoxyribonucleic acid DNA
[Sourced from Te Aka Māori Dictionary]
Te Hau o te Taonga (“the spirit of the gift”) is a concept that refers to the expectations and responsibilities associated with the use of taonga (treasures), including tissue, DNA and data, within a Māori context. More information
Further resources
VIDEO: Myriad Genetics | Extracting your own DNA at home
ARTICLE: NZ Herald | Extract DNA from bananas
NZASE Article: Genetics on the go: An activity-based model for learning about genetics