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FORSTERK-Forsterkningsmidler

Establishment of a network for reproducible environmental DNA in Norway

Awarded: NOK 1.0 mill.

Plant.ID as a project was intricately linked to the rapidly developing field of environmental DNA. The ongoing and anticipated widespread application of eDNA methods to automated and targeted environmental biodiversity monitoring necessitated a concerted effort to bring all stakeholders together to agree on national standards and routines for collection and handling of environmental samples and associated DNA both for reproducibility but also to guarantee Open Data. This required a paradigm shift in natural history collections but also an inclusive and representative platform of key stakeholders. NOReDNA aligned with BIOSCAN Norway to build on the established network of NORBOL, and organised a series of meetings to bring key stakeholders together to transfer experiences from Plant.ID and NorBOL to BIOSCAN. Two establishment meetings led to a national conference on eDNA with associated workshops on validated methods for sample collection, handling, and analysis. The eDNA conference brought national stakeholders, as well as relevant Nordic partners, together with world leaders in this field to share experiences and encourage implementation of validated eDNA methods in research, management and regulation.

NOReDNA has established a national network for eDNA in collaboration with BIOSCAN Norway through five activities: two meetings, two workshops and one conference. These activities were in line with the RCN priorities for the call: establishment of national networks, increased engagement of Norwegian partners, organisation of specific conferences, and organisation of meetings and workshops to increase project outreach. These activities were the two NOReDNA telecons (Oct and Nov 2021), NOReDNA scientific committee (March 2022), two BIOSCAN NOReDNA workshops (Oct and Nov 2022) and the BIOSCAN NOReDNA conference (Nov 2022). The first workshop focused on institute sector stakeholders and the second on "Quantification of biodiversity abundance using eDNA”.

Plant.ID is intricately linked to the rapidly developing field of environmental DNA. The ongoing and anticipated widespread application of eDNA methods to automated and targeted environmental biodiversity monitoring necessitate a concerted effort to bring all stakeholders together to agree on national standards and routines for collection and handling of environmental samples and associated DNA both for reproducibility but also to guarantee Open Data. This requires a paradigm shift in natural history collections but also an inclusive and representative platform of key stakeholders. NOReDNA will build on the established network of the applied for NFR Infrastructures BIOSCAN Norway and NORBINA (NFR 2020, PI BIOSCAN Torbjørn Ekrem, NTNU; PI NORBINA Arild Johnsen, NHM, UiO). NOReDNA will organise a series of meetings to bring key stakeholders together to transfer experiences from Plant.ID and NorBOL to DiSSCo Norway, the Norwegian node of ESFRI Prepare DiSSCo – Distributed System of Scientific Collections (PI Hugo de Boer. These two establishment meetings will lead to a national conference on eDNA with associated workshops on validated methods for sample collection, handling, and analysis in May 2022 (NOReDNA 2022), as well as the launch of a national eDNA network. The aim of the eDNA conference is to bring national stakeholders, as well as relevant Nordic partners, together with world leaders in this field to share experiences and encourage implementation of validated eDNA methods in research, management and regulation.

Funding scheme:

FORSTERK-Forsterkningsmidler

Funding Sources