Biodiversity change in Europe is becoming increasingly noticeable, therefore, the research project "DNAquaIMG: Innovative transnational aquatic biodiversity monitoring" explores a new perspective: the interdisciplinary project aims to understand and communicate the far-reaching biodiversity change in Europe in all its complexity. The project is led by Prof. Dr. Florian Leese (University of Duisburg-Essen) and includes an international consortium of 14 partners from eleven European countries. The researchers will contribute their expertise in the development and implementation of high-throughput molecular and automated image recognition methods for biodiversity monitoring in European rivers. The combination of the two complementary approaches offers advantages for biodiversity assessment in the context of ecosystem degradation and restoration. Similar to DNA fingerprinting in forensics, genetic methods enable accurate detection and description of biodiversity, even for microscopic organisms. In contrast, image-based methods can provide reliable data on species abundance, size structure and biomass of organisms. Together, the approaches enable to significantly expand the information from the data on biodiversity from environmental samples.

Currently, water bodies in Europe are assessed using organisms that have often not been identified to species level. This allows to monitor ecological status of water bodies in a specific region, but is not sufficient for a detailed biodiversity monitoring. In order to utilise the above-mentioned new methods for European biodiversity monitoring, DNAquaIMG will evaluate their implementation in the existing and proven monitoring of water bodies within the framework of the European Water Framework Directive (EC/2000/60, WFD). In the context of WFD it will be investigated how changes in the genetic diversity of identified communities are related to the functional diversity and ecological status classes of watercourses. Samples of aquatic invertebrates and diatoms, two key indicator groups under the WFD, originating from eight countries will be determined to species level. It will be analysed whether, for example, improvements in the ecological status classes through river restoration also result in an increase in biodiversity.

Based on the project results, the scientists plan to develop a strategy for improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change in order to support the implementation of the European Green Deal and the European Biodiversity Strategy. Find out more about the project activities at https://dnaquaimg.eu/.