Environmental DNA (eDNA) as a monitoring tool for biodiversity in the North
NorthDIVeRSITY
Monitoring biodiversity is very 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.
Parties interested in using eDNA in monitoring and those interested in providing eDNA analyses will work together to discuss specific requirements for analyses of eDNA in the North.
Project is coordinated by Luke (Katri Kärkkäinen), with University of Oulu (PI Stefan Prost) and Umeå University (PI Per Stenberg) as partners. The work is divided into workpackages: WP1 Northern needs and possibilities for eDNA (led by Roland Jansson, UmU), WP2 Developing eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring tools for Northern habitats (led by Stefan Prost, UOulu), and WP3 Communication and cocreation (led by Katri Kärkkäinen and Terhi Iso-Touru, Luke).
