Application of DNA-based methods in biodiversity monitoring

In order to counteract the biodiversity crisis, well-founded knowledge about the occurrence of species and their interactions with their environment is of crucial impor - tance. In addition, this biomonitoring must be carried out in a temporally, spatially and taxonomically high resolution in order to provide the information that is necessary for the assessment of ecosystems and their management. Classic methods of biomonitoring often reach their limits due to their considerable workload. In contrast, DNA-based methods represent an innovative way to reliably determine the occurrence of species and entire communities of organisms over a large area and at regular intervals. Moreover, interactions of species with their environment can also be examined using DNA analysis, which can be employed, for example, to assess ecosystem services. Similar to forensic investigations, such methods use the detection of DNA traces. The selection of the corresponding DNA analysis methods is based on the question to be answered. The implementation of DNA-based methods for large-scale, standardized and regular biodiversity monitoring, as well as their combination with approved approaches, are already implemented in the practice of environmental management. In the coming years, the establishment of competence centers at universities, museums, government agencies and industry, the development of international standards as well as the involvement of political decision-makers and civil society will be of crucial importance for the successful use of DNA-based technology in biodiversity monitoring to meet the great social task of stopping the loss of species. © VDI Fachmedien GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf 2020.