Call for Proposals: Advancing aquatic eDNA applications for rare species 

As an emerging field, the application of environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches to detect and monitor aquatic species has been a valuable tool. However, the use of eDNA to detect and monitor rare species faces a suite of challenges — some of which are unique to eDNA applications, and some of which can be informed by other parallel fields of research, e.g. community-based or biodiversity analyses.

This special feature will highlight recent technological advances that address some of the challenges unique to sampling rare species using eDNA, which may comprise developments in sample collection, downstream laboratory processing or assay design, bioinformatic processing and reference libraries, or data analysis methods. These methods apply broadly to rare taxa living in aquatic environments, including but not limited to: marine mammals, rare fishes and aquatic invertebrates, turtles, aquatic amphibians, emerging aquatic pathogens, early-stage invasive species, and endangered species. In this methods-focused special feature, we will present new developments that (1) improve our ability to detect rare species, either in the sampling environment or within the sample itself, (2) improve our ability to identify/classify rare species, populations, or individuals, (3) improve our ability to localize the source of eDNA deposition , or (4) improve our ability to estimate density/abundance of rare species. In some cases, recent advances in related eDNA fields can prove informative to aquatic eDNA methods. Air eDNA manuscripts will be accepted if they can be applied to advancing aquatic eDNA methods for detecting rare species.

Methods in Ecology and Evolution publishes high-impact, novel methods in ecology and evolution and facilitates their uptake by the research community. Submissions to this special feature must meet the journal's Aims and Scope.

We seek contributions that address the following topics:

• Obtaining and using haplotypic and nuclear data from eDNA — particularly in connection with population or individual level data.
• Estimating the abundance or density of populations of rare species from eDNA data.
• Dealing with bias through amplification error, subsampling error, primer specificity, etc. Methods to quantify these errors and derive unbiased estimates of eDNA sequence abundance.
• Improving detection rate — for example, with improved experimental design, lab and collection protocol optimization, targeted assays, optimization of technical and biological replication.
• Improving classification rate, which may include development of complete and accurate reference libraries and data and bioinformatic pipelines.
• eDNA fate and transport- Localizing detections requires an understanding of eDNA degradation and movement rates, and how it is transported before it is no longer detectable.
• Emerging molecular approaches — including molecular methods for assessing eRNA or methylation from aquatic eDNA samples.

The call for proposals closes on the 29th of June 2025.

To submit a proposal to this Special Feature, please complete the proposal form here.

All papers will be assessed by the special feature editors to be invited to submit to the special feature. For papers that are invited to submit, they will undergo the same rigorous peer review process as all papers submitted to Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and invitation to submit does not guarantee eventual acceptance. Accepted papers will be published online when they are ready and collected into an issue when all papers are ready.

You can read more about the British Ecological Society’s special feature process here.