Meta-analysis of eDNA metabarcoding data from UK lakes optimising species detection probability and sampling effort (NECR325)

DNA – based methods offer a significant opportunity to change how we monitor and assess biodiversity. These techniques may provide cheaper alternatives to existing species monitoring or an ability to detect species that we cannot currently detect reliably.
However, for most species, there is still much development required before they can be used in routine monitoring. Natural England has been exploring the further use of these methods for environmental monitoring for several years, delivering a series of reports which focus on the development of DNA-based methods with potential in a particular area.
This report focusses on the development of methods for environmental DNA (eDNA) based monitoring of lake fish communities. New protocols using eDNA have recently been developed and deployed in the UK.
This study builds on this development by exploring the effect of reducing the number of samples taken within a lake and understanding what the effects of this are for biodiversity information.
A secondary goal was to explore if mammalian eDNA also identified from the lake could also contribute to biodiversity data for these species