Guest Editing a Special Issue of Genes: Environmental DNA in Ecological Research
Published:
I’m excited to share that I’m guest editing a new Special Issue of Genes (MDPI) focused on environmental DNA (eDNA) in ecological research.
eDNA has become one of the most powerful tools in modern ecology, enabling non-invasive detection and monitoring of species and communities across aquatic, terrestrial, and even aerial environments. But the field still faces real methodological challenges, including primer bias, false-positive/false-negative detections, degradation and transport dynamics, standardization of bioinformatic pipelines, and interpreting the complex datasets these pipelines generate.
This Special Issue welcomes original research, reviews, and methodological studies that advance eDNA applications, from marker-gene surveys to genome- and meta-genome-scale analyses, across freshwater, marine, and terrestrial systems. I’m particularly interested in submissions on new molecular or bioinformatic tools, cross-system comparisons, integration of eDNA with traditional monitoring approaches, and applications of eDNA-derived data to conservation, fisheries, and natural resource management.
The issue is open for submissions now. If your work fits, I’d love to see it — full scope, keywords, and submission instructions are on the special issue page.