Environmental DNA

Scope

Environmental DNA is a fully double-blinded peer reviewed open access journal. The journal publishes papers that pertain to the analyses of environmental DNA (eDNA) (including ancient DNA, non-invasive sampling, diet analyses, metabarcoding, metagenomics, microbial ecology and pathogens) and address questions of both basic and applied relevance. Research areas (and non-exclusive examples of applications) of interest to Environmental DNA include but are not limited to: - Experimental eDNA work: Testing the impact of physico-chemical factors (e.g. natural biogeochemistry and PCR pollutants) on eDNA, degradation, transport, shedding and detection rate, comparing detectionand abundance estimate with conventional methods. - Trophic and community ecology: Ecosystem dynamics, functional diversity, predator-prey interactions (e.g. diet analysis), host-associated microbiota. - Palaeo-environments: Past species and community diversity and abundance measurements, inference in space and time. - Biomonitoring, conservation biology: Single- and multi-species detection, comprehensive biodiversity at different scales, abundance estimates, detection of rare, cryptic and endangered species, non-invasive sampling, management (e.g. fisheries), occurrence and detection estimates. - Invasion biology: Early species detection at low abundance, passive surveillance, impacts on ecosystems, vectors and pathways of dispersal. - Environmental assessment: Impacts of pollutants and other environmental disturbance on species and communities, microbial source tracking (fecal bacteria or pathogens). - Physical eDNA properties: Uptake and transformation based on geochemistry, particles, organic chemistry or microbial community. - Techniques and methods: Engineering development, developing, testing and evaluating eDNA biotechnology and biostatistical approaches. - Applications in citizen science and biodiversity education