Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is a molecular sampling technology that collects information about organisms using DNA shed by them into their environment. While eDNA holds exciting potential to become an efficient, low-cost, non-invasive ecological monitoring method, a lack of standardization of approaches and purpose-built sampling equipment make it hard to compare results and determine its actual effectiveness across studies. Detection success and accuracy also vary greatly among species and environments, making standardization a challenge.
However, as eDNA moves toward becoming an industry standard method for species detection and management, the equipment is beginning to transition from largely do-it-yourself experimental contraptions to professionally engineered tools. For example, Smith-Root Inc. recently developed the first-ever purpose-built eDNA sampling system, which they call ANDe™. We’re also seeing an expansion of eDNA applications from mainly marine to freshwater and even terrestrial environments, although the latter still requires substantial growth.
As this nascent field develops, it is critical for the conservation tech community to explore and identify how eDNA applies to management needs, and to ensure that continued development meets those needs. Beyond indicating species presence, research so far suggests that eDNA can contribute to conservation by deepening understanding of population dynamics, resource usage, disease presence, invasion pathways of non-native species, and population genetics, to name a few. This indicates that it could be a critical tool for managing imperiled and invasive species.
If you're new to eDNA and genomics, check out our Tech Tutors episode "How Do I Use Portable Genomics in the Field?" featuring Ineke Knot. You'll also find a bank of resources on that page, including a handy glossary of terms in our collaborative notes document!
Does your work involve eDNA and genomics, or are you curious about incorporating this type of technology into your field or lab work? Start a discussion in our group forum!
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I'm a Junior Lecturer at the Department of Biology, UIN Alauddin Makassar, Indonesia. Happy to collaborate in genetics, molecular ecology, and taxonomy research.
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Ecological monitoring enthusiast with a focus on ecological and conservation research
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Wildlife Drones
Wildlife Drones has developed the world’s most innovative radio animal-tracking system using drones so you can track your radio-tagged animals like never before.
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Michigan State University
Conservation geneticist at Michigan State University. Co-founder of iCatch. Solving problems in monitoring, traceability, and enforcement through rapid species identification tech.
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Michigan State University
Dr. Mariah Meek is the PI and co-founder of iCatch, an Associate Professor at Michigan State University, and the Director of Research at The Wilderness Society.
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I am a master's student working with the Genetics, Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Carnivores Research Group at PUCRS/Brazil. I am especially interested in molecular techniques to answer genetic, ecological and forensic questions about jaguars.
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Environmental (DNA) has emerged as a powerful and accessible tool to non-invasively and cost-effectly identify the presence of species in an environment, used by conservationists, researchers and citizen scientists. In...
10 February 2023
WILDLABS and Fauna & Flora International are seeking an early career Vietnamese conservationist for 12-month paid internship position to grow and support the Southeast Asia regional community in our global...
11 January 2023
Five articles that include conservation tech published at Mongabay
20 October 2022
*New closing date!* WILDLABS and Fauna & Flora International are seeking an early career conservationist for 12-month paid internship position to grow and support the Southeast Asia regional community in our global...
19 October 2022
Careers
The Senior Conservation Technology Specialist will be responsible for providing technical advice and capacity development to GWP project teams on conservation technology, distilling challenges and lessons from project...
22 September 2022
The European Biodiversity Partnership Biodiversa+, co-funded by the European Union, has launched a call for research proposals on “Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and...
14 September 2022
Boost cons tech capacity at an international NGO! Fauna & Flora International is offering a paid three-month internship to consolidate and share best practices for the application of emerging hardware and software...
26 August 2022
Are you interested in joining a team dedicated to changing how conservation is conducted around the world by developing new genetic technologies for conservation, and being part of the new wave of scientists paving a...
15 August 2022
Careers
Postdoc position focused on marine mammals, oceanography and eDNA!
15 July 2022
Positions include ecological data scientist, bioinformatician, metabarcoding assay developer, bioinformatics engineer, marine eDNA product scientist & more
4 June 2022
Mongabay article on the recently launched Centre for Wildlife Forensics in Singapore, noting their successes so far in catching wildlife traffickers and uncovering trafficking routes
29 May 2022
NatureMetrics is now seeking a Product Design Engineer to help develop a product range focused on rapid in-field methods to detect species from environmental samples.
6 April 2022
November 2023
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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Hello everyone, I'm interested in gathering insights on how the behavior of different species impacts the development and efficacy of... |
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Biologging, Acoustics, Camera Traps, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Marine Conservation | 1 month 4 weeks ago | |
Hi everyone. I'm still confused about this. Is it feasible to employ environmental DNA (eDNA) for the detection of two distinct communities... |
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eDNA & Genomics | 2 months 1 week ago | |
Forgot to mention this wildlife drone group - |
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Drones, eDNA & Genomics | 3 months 3 weeks ago | |
Thanks Aude, very useful. Will reach out to them! |
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Early Career, Acoustics, eDNA & Genomics, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools | 4 months 1 week ago | |
Carly, that would be great! Thanks! I work with soundscapes and love the work of Rainforest Connection! I'll send you an email (@CUNY) to coordinate! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Remote Sensing & GIS | 11 months 2 weeks ago | |
Thanks so much!! |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 7 months ago | |
It is! Here you go: |
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eDNA & Genomics | 1 year 9 months ago | |
@gracieermi & I are happy to announce the latest update to the Conservation Tech Directory, bringing our total resources in the... |
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Acoustics, AI for Conservation, Biologging, Camera Traps, Community Base, Data management and processing tools, Drones, eDNA & Genomics, Remote Sensing & GIS, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year 10 months ago | |
Some folks doing work in this space - Wildlife Drones, Conservation Drones, UAV Wild, AfricanDrones, Oceans Unmanned, Geonadir. |
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Drones, AI for Conservation, Citizen Science, eDNA & Genomics, Emerging Tech | 1 year 11 months ago | |
New paper by Héloïse Verdier of LEHNA lab: Passive sampling of environmental DNA in aquatic environments using 3D-printed hydroxyapatite samplers https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/... |
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eDNA & Genomics | 1 year 11 months ago | |
Posting for a labmate. La encuesta está en inglés, pero se ha proporcionado una traducción en español (ver... |
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eDNA & Genomics | 3 years ago | |
Hi Wildlabbers, Ineke's episode is up on our Youtube now! Follow this link or watch it below. You can also find our collaborative notes from this episode here (where you... |
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eDNA & Genomics | 3 years 9 months ago |
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season 3
6 July 2021 12:00am
PhD Survey - Use of genetic tools in aquatic invasive species management
12 May 2021 3:25pm
New Article: Environmental DNA Metabarcoding
6 April 2021 12:00am
The 2021 #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Community Highlights
25 March 2021 12:00am
Making the Most of Tech Tutors Season 2!
30 November 2020 12:00am
Southern Right Whales & Genome and Satellite Technology
5 November 2020 12:00am
Tech Tutors: Review Session
3 September 2020 12:00am
Tech Tutors: How do I use portable genomics in the field?
8 July 2020 11:55am
14 August 2020 4:14pm
How do I use portable genomics in the field?
3 August 2020 12:00am
Competition: 2020 Hackaday Prize
26 May 2020 12:00am
Webinar: Non-invasive Conservation Genetics
13 May 2020 12:00am
Virtual Meetup Discussion: eDNA
5 December 2019 12:03pm
12 December 2019 8:23pm
Hey Alex,
Our pleasure! Yep, we will be uploading the recording along with our notes from the session to this page. We'll also upload the individual talks to our yourtube channel here. We'll have them up in the next few days, probably early next week.
We're starting to think through topics for next season - I'm interested to hear if there are any technologies/tools or questions you'd like us to cover?
Steph
12 December 2019 8:35pm
Thanks!
I know there was some discussion of bioacoustics--I'll echo this interest. I have no experience and will be deploying audiomoths in my study area in early spring, so I need to get up to speed quickly!
Alex
12 December 2019 8:41pm
Ah! Well you're in luck.. We're doing acoustics first thing next year. Late January some time, so in good time for your field season. We also had the audiomoth team give a talk at one of our previous meetups - Peter Prince's talk is here.
Steph
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Environmental DNA (eDNA)
22 October 2019 12:00am
Technology companies, FCO, and conservation NGOs come together to scale technology solutions to end wildlife crime
4 June 2019 12:00am
WILDLABS TECH HUB Showcase
17 May 2019 12:00am
Meet the WILDLABS TECH HUB Winners
13 May 2019 12:00am
Processing blood? Centrifuge troubleshooting
26 February 2018 11:47pm
6 March 2018 10:07am
Do you want me to put you in touch with folks at my company who know the second hand lab supplies market extremely well and might be able to help you buy the right centrifuge second hand?
13 March 2018 7:09pm
@ffyngau out of interest, what are you using the centrifuge for? Avian health research in Denali NP? @mattypie thanks so much for your offer to help connect with an affordable supplier.
29 March 2018 11:25am
Hi Emily,
Rachel has some practical suggestions about rigging your current centrifuge up to fit the small tubes. What do you think - vIable?
1) If you're measuring hematocrit, perhaps using flat-bottomed vials which do fit (less accurate though)
2) taping capillary tube in the tubes that fit (flat against bottom for clay retention)
3) try taping two support rods across the top to hold opposing capillary tubes
— Rachel Skubel (@rachelskubel) March 29, 2018
Steph
Technology Empowered Conservation Lecture Series
18 January 2018 12:00am
FIT Cheetahs
4 December 2017 12:00am
Learning To Be A Detection Dog Handler: The Teachings of Rubble
3 November 2017 12:00am
Plant DNA sequencing
Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge: YIARI is helping protect slow lorises
23 June 2017 12:00am
#Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge: Our favourites from 2016
1 March 2017 12:00am
Conservation Leadership Programme 2017 Award
21 November 2016 12:00am
CSI for the Sea: How Scientists Use DNA to Spy on Whales and Find 'Extinct' Fish
18 November 2016 12:00am
5 Smart Technologies That Will Crack Down On Wildlife Trafficking
14 November 2016 12:00am
Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act grants via USFWS
8 November 2016 12:00am
DNA in scent marks
28 January 2016 5:03pm
How you are you using eDNA?
Upcoming Conferences
25 January 2016 4:57pm
25 January 2016 5:01pm
There will be an eDNA talk at the Mares Conference, February 1st to 5th 2016, Olhão, Portugal
The talk is titled: "Species detections in environmental DNA using metabarcoding: a useful tool in estuaries monitoring."
12 August 2020 9:49pm
Hi Wildlabbers,
We'll be using this thread for all follow-up questions and ongoing discussions after tomorrow's episode with Ineke! If you haven't registered yet, make sure you get your ticket here.
As always, we'll update this thread after the episode with the full tutorial and Q&A on our Youtube channel. We'll also share our collaborative notes and resources gathered from the episode's chat.
See you tomorrow for what will definitely be an exciting episode!
-Ellie