Utilizing aquatic environmental DNA to address global biodiversity targets

Altermatt, Florian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4831-6958; Couton, Marjorie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9880-8646; Carraro, Luca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3933-1144; Keck, François ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3323-4167; Lawson-Handley, Lori ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8153-5511; Leese, Florian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5465-913X; Zhang, Xiaowei ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8974-9963; Zhang, Yan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0688-5359; Blackman, Rosetta C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6182-8691. 2025 Utilizing aquatic environmental DNA to address global biodiversity targets. Nature Reviews Biodiversity. 10.1038/s44358-025-00044-x

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Abstract/Summary

Achieving global biodiversity goals requires assessing, attributing and reversing the ongoing, unprecedented biodiversity decline in aquatic ecosystems, and relies on adequate data to inform policy and action. Analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) has become established as a novel and powerful approach to assess the state and functioning of aquatic ecosystems, and although increasingly implemented by stakeholders its potential is not yet fully tapped. In this Perspective, we review the current state of aquatic eDNA research, focusing in particular on the policy relevance of eDNA and its utility in contributing towards the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We summarize key technological developments in eDNA science to measure organismal diversity, its potential for spatial and temporal upscaling to become a key reference for local to global biodiversity action, and the next steps needed to effectively implement eDNA for decision-making and reaching biodiversity targets. Using eDNA to support biodiversity assessment will particularly benefit the understanding of understudied ecosystems and allow the direct calculation of ecological indices and implementation of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) and inclusive data curation. Important next steps for eDNA require proper method standardization and commonly agreed quality standards, populating reference databases, and overcoming methodological constraints in retrofitting novel eDNA-based approaches to existing biodiversity monitoring approaches.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1038/s44358-025-00044-x
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Environmental Pressures and Responses (2025-)
ISSN:	3005-0677
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Publisher link (see Related URLs) provides a read-only full-text copy of the published paper.
Additional Keywords:	biodiversity, environmental impact
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Biology and Microbiology
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date made live:	09 May 2025 08:14 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539401

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