Research project Environmental DNA (eDNA) in the north
Monitoring biodiversity is time demanding and costly due to the extensive expertise needed to identify species in different environments and the associated laborious field work. Environmental DNA (eDNA), the detection of DNA traces left in the environment by different organisms, has great potential to become an efficient tool in biodiversity monitoring. However, tests of presently used eDNA methods have shown that eDNA tools have not been designed for northern environments: important northern species are missing, instead, methods identify temperate species that often do not occur in the north.
In this project, we are
• pooling the current know-how of eDNA methods
• together with stakeholders, identify the biggest needs for eDNA-based monitoring in the north.
• develop or adapt and validate eDNA-based monitoring approaches for Northern ecosystems.
• identify the most urgent needs for improving eDNA-based monitoring, and produce best practices for different stages of procedures and sample types.
Both future EU initiatives such as the New Restoration Law and existing directives (e.g, the Water Framework Directive), alongside requirements set by national legislation, emphasize the importance of monitoring restoration efforts. Northern regions also face faster climate change of greater magnitude, and the areas with suitable conditions for cold-adapted species are shrinking. At the same time, large sparsely populated geographic areas in the North make the logistic challenges of traditional biodiversity monitoring methods severe. In light of this, there is a pressing need to promptly implement modern, user-friendly monitoring methods. We propose to develop environmental DNA (eDNA) based monitoring approaches specifically tailored to northern habitats. eDNA refers to the genetic material (DNA) that organisms shed into their surrounding environment through pollen, spores, skin cells, scales, feces, urine, mucus etc. It can be found in soil, water, air, and surfaces of plants ect. This means species can be detected non-invasively without directly observing or capturing them.
We will update lists of target species and target habitats in need of monitoring together with stakeholders to ensure that eDNA toolkits are tailored towards their specific needs. We will also analyze what features eDNA tools need to have in terms of standardization, costs, etc. to be applicable for monitoring by different stakeholders.
The outcomes include (1) an assessment of the species and habitats that would benefit from eDNA monitoring, and (2) compilation of tools encompassing various eDNA methods and their suitability in northern environments. Stakeholders will be partners in the project, including the county administration of Norrbotten in Sweden, and ELY Lapland in Finland.
We will test, validate, and improve existing eDNA-based methods for target species, species groups and Northern habitats. Furthermore, to simplify the process of planning biodiversity monitoring strategies, we identify features in Northern habitats, which can routinely be used for biodiversity monitoring, such as streams, vegetation (moss, trees), and air. We provide tools and recommendations for both (1) general biodiversity monitoring focusing on species groups (such as insects) to obtain standard biodiversity indices and (2) targeted monitoring of invasive species or species listed in the Habitats Directive Annex 4. The major deliverables will be: (1) the development of efficient eDNA-based monitoring tools, evaluated and tested for Northern habitats, (2) guide for stakeholders regarding the use of eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring of typical Northern habitats, (3) characterization of biases and which species are hard to detect using the more simple and most commonly used targeted approaches (metabarcoding) by comparing to unbiased, non- targeted and more costly methods (metagenomics). Methods will also be compared on the basis of sensitivity (ability to detect rare organisms) and specificity (accuracy to identify individual species), (4) dissemination of the results via scientific publications, reports to the stakeholders, and public print and online media.
