May 2024

The IUCN published a Statement regarding the use of eDNA methods for conservation and wildlife management. This signals the increasing usage and importance for environmental DNA as non-invasive and effective biomonitoring tool.

On May 25 ^th 2024, Florian Leese presented status quo and visions on biodiversity monitoring using DNA and eDNA based methods at an invited keynote talk at the 5 ^th National Symposium on eDNA bioassessments in Shenzhen, China.

On April 25 ^th 2024, FlorianLeese was invited for a session keynote in the “Empowering Biodiversity Research III” Conference in Leiden to talk about challenges arising due to a lack of standardization and harmonization.

At a „Sustainability“ science slam in Mainz, Florian Leese presented “Biodiversity – or the end of variety” on the 11 ^th of April 2024.

23 January 2024

Florian Leese gave an overview talk on standardization of DNA-based methods at iDiv Leipzig.

November 2023, Fraunhofer IME

WildOMICs is featured in the newsletter. The initiative strives to incorporate OMIC techniques in environmental monitoring, such as meta-transcriptomics.

September 2023

Isabelle Junk, Nina Schmitt and Henrik Krehenwinkel published a research article in the scientific journal Current Biology. The members of TrendDNA successfully tested blue mussel homogenate of the German ESB project for their ability to store environmental DNA in their associated communities through time and space. The authors were able to reconstruct the invasion trajectory of an barnacle.

18 June 2023

The Emschergenossenschaft and the NABU NRW invited researchers to the First Day of the living Emscher. The set goal was to record the diversity of species in the new mouth area of the once most polluted river in Germany. The TrendDNA-Team of the University of Duisburg-Essen took part in the event. Robin Schütz and Florian Leese, as well as Till-Hendrik Macher (GeDNA-Project) analyzed traces of animal species from environmental DNA in the water. Using a portable DNA-sequencing system, processing of the samples happened in the field. Identification through environmental DNA helped to discover numerous fish species, among others the eel and the ninespine stickleback.

24-25 April 2023

TrendDNA participants Jan Koschorreck (UBA), Henrik Krehenwinkel, Julian Hans and Isa Junk (Universität Trier), Robin Schütz (Universität Duisburg-Essen), and Bernd Göckener (Fraunhofer IME) give a progress report and project outlook at the UPB Jahrestagung in Berlin.

13-15 March 2023

Exciting new data from TrendDNA are presented at the 3rd Global Soil Biodiversity Conference in Dublin, Ireland. Here, Masters student Judith Paetsch (Senckenberg Gesellschaft, LOEWE-Zentrum-TBG) shows the lastest results of her project using shotgun metagenomics to characterize the biodiversity of soil communities across space and time.

December 2022

Our study on arthropod biomonitoring using eDNA from tree leaves is now published open-access in eLife! In this innovative study led by Prof. Henrik Krehenwinkel of Universität Trier, UPB samples were used to measure trends in diversity and relative biomass of canopy arthropods over a 30-year period. While species richness remained relatively stable at individual sites, the species composition changed drastically, resulting in an overall homogenization of forest arthropod communities across Germany.

November 2022, Fraunhofer IME

TrendDNA is featured in the Newsletter of the Division of Applied Ecology:

27-28 September 2022, University of Duisburg-Essen

PhD students Robin Schütz (Universität Duisburg-Essen) and Isabelle Junk (Universität Trier) present posters of their research showing the exciting potential for eDNA metabarcoding of suspended particulate matter and mussels to reveal changes in limnic and marine communities over time:

Summer 2022

A companion project to TrendDNA is funded by the Bauer-Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Forschung. Led by Dr. Susan Kennedy, Prof. Henrik Krehenwinkel and Prof. Christoph Emmerling (Universität Trier), and in collaboration with Prof. Florian Leese (Universität Duisburg Essen), Prof. Miklós Bálint (Senckenberg TBG Frankfurt) and Prof. Thomas Udelhoven (Universität Trier), this exciting project uses metabarcoding, metagenomics and metatranscriptomics of earthworms to reveal changes in soil communities over time and across geographic distances.