Global lake sampling

From a set of lakes globally, we will test the potential of a global strategy for monitoring animal and plant diversity from lake environmental DNA (eDNA).

Rivers within a lake’s catchment are potentially transporting eDNA from the different species inhabiting the lake’s catchment. As lakes are at the receiving end of these rivers, lakes may accumulate this eDNA for a time before it is degraded, transported out or buried in sediments. We are testing if lakes act as accumulators of eDNA in the landscape by receiving transported eDNA from rivers. If lakes accumulate eDNA from their catchments, sampling them will provide the paradigm shift needed to vastly change the cost, speed and geographic scale with which species can be surveyed through time. We aim to show that this accumulated eDNA in lakes offers a unique opportunity to monitor terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity, from both animals and plants, on large spatial scales. By coupling results across scales in a united framework, we will determine the spatial limits of what can be inferred about animal and plant richness from eDNA. Leveraging the information contained in eDNA, which allows rapid and cost-efficient diversity surveys and expanded geographic coverage, we aim to show its potential to redefine global strategies for biodiversity monitoring.

We aim at sampling 800 lakes worldwide on International Day for Biological Diversity 2024 (May 22nd, 2024) counting with a collaborator’s network that involves citizen scientists and scientific researchers. You can see some potential lakes external pageherecall_made.