Sharing eDNA Data for Future Research

An online workshop on December 5^th 2025 brought together 28 researchers and data managers from different German marine and terrestrial projects to explore best practices for archiving and publishing data from environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses. eDNA allows scientists to identify species from traces of genetic material found in water, soil, or air—but its full potential can only be exploited if the resulting data are well documented, stored, and shared.

The workshop addressed the workflow from sample collection, analysis by metabarcoding and qPCR approaches to international data repositories and global information systems. Participants discussed FAIR eDNA data practices, metadata standards specific to molecular biology, and common eDNA data types, such as DNA sequences and ASV/OTU tables including occurrences and taxonomic annotations.

They learned how these can be published and linked using established services such as the GFBio data brokerage service, the ASV Registry, ENA and PANGAEA. Global biodiversity platforms such as GBIF and OBIS were also introduced.

The event and fruitful discussions fostered exchange across researchers and data managers from the DAM research missions mareXtreme (PrimePrevention, ElbeXtreme) and sustainMare (CREATE), and further DAM partner institutions. It featured guest speakers of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, presenting the ASV Registry, which is part of the German Barcode of Life and federated under NFDI4Biodiversity. The workshop thus leverages synergies in molecular biodiversity research in marine and terrestrial environments in Germany. By improving sharing of high-quality data, the workshop supports transparent and reproducible biodiversity data for scientific and societal efforts e.g. to understand and prevent emerging biological risks in marine environments.

Authors: Astrid Wittmann & Katja Metfies (AWI)