Collection 

Environmental DNA and RNA

Submission status
Closed
Submission deadline

As organisms interact with their surroundings, they shed cellular material (e.g., excrement, mucous, skin cells) containing detailed genetic information. Recent advancements in sequencing technology allow scientists to analyse DNA and RNA collected from environmental samples (eDNA/eRNA), such as soil, sediments, water, and even air. Applying eDNA/eRNA methods can give researchers a far more detailed picture of a community, without the need for sampling or sighting individual organisms. eDNA and eRNA have been successfully used for detection of rare or cryptic taxa, to monitor the presence of invasive species, provide insights into ecosystem and organism health, and even to reconstruct past environments.

This Collection aims to bring together studies detailing recent developments in environmental DNA and RNA, from methodological and technological advancements to applied and interdisciplinary research.

close up of a scientist's river drawing water into a research flask from a stream

Editors

Michael Knapp is an Associate Professor at Department of Anatomy in The University of Otago, New Zealand. His group focuses on how species interact with their environment both on the molecular and on the population level and on how human activity shapes biodiversity. Dr Knapp has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2013.

 

 

John Pearman is a Research Scientist at the Cawthron Institute. His research focuses on the use of eDNA to study spatial and temporal patterns of aquatic organisms. Dr Pearman has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2017.

 

 

 

Sujeet Kumar Singh is an Assistant Professor at Amity Institute of Forestry and Wildlife in Amity University. His broad research interest lies in the field of conservation genetics, wildlife forensic and ecological genomics of threatened mammals. He is keen to link the genetic/genomic information of wild mammals with traditional ecological data for understanding how climate change, anthropogenic activities, and demographic change influences evolutionary dynamics of threatened mammals. Dr Singh has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2022.