12. Modern marine conservation using environmental nucleic acids (eDNA and eRNA)

Abstract

Collin J. Closek, Louw Claassens, and Helen J. Killeen. Over the last 10+ years, rapid increases in technological approaches to the assessment of environmental DNA (eDNA), and even more rapid declines in costs for sampling and sequencing eDNA and eRNA, have opened a whole new door for employing this amazing molecular technology to assess biodiversity and dynamics. Closek et al. walk us through these developments and point to how these ever more available methods could accelerate key research and allow many scholars and practitioners to address questions that were previously inaccessible. Research into environmental DNA opens new fundamental science doors and allows us to probe key conservation issues with speed and accuracy. The authors detail the current methods and point to potential future applications.