Dr Imane Sioud1, Dr. Yuki Minegishi2, Prof. Tadashi Kajita3, Prof. Michio Kondoh1
1Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, 2University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan, 3University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Japan
Biography:
Imane Sioud is an ecologist and Assistant Professor at Tohoku University, Japan, working at the intersection of ecology, environmental DNA (eDNA), education, and public engagement. Her research focuses on using eDNA to advance aquatic biodiversity monitoring while strengthening connections between scientific research, conservation practice, and real-world environmental needs. She coordinates ANEMONE Global, an international initiative that brings researchers and institutions together to develop collaborative approaches to eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring and capacity building. Her work explores how biodiversity science can become more accessible, transferable, and useful across different contexts, with a particular interest in connecting researchers, communities, and practitioners through collaborative environmental initiatives.
Abstract:
Standardised methods are central to making eDNA useful beyond individual studies, but implementing the same workflow across countries and institutions raises questions about what can realistically be standardized and where adaptation becomes necessary. ANEMONE Global provides a large-scale setting in which to examine this question through coordinated aquatic eDNA monitoring across diverse geographic and institutional contexts. The initiative currently involves researchers from 18 countries and 28 institutions. Participating teams follow a common sampling framework while selecting their own sampling sites and monitoring objectives. This combination of methodological consistency and distributed implementation creates an opportunity to examine how a shared eDNA workflow performs across different environmental, technical and logistical contexts, and how variation can be managed without compromising the value of a common framework.
This presentation will examine the implementation of ANEMONE Global, drawing on experiences and emerging data from the network. Particular attention will be given to the practical points at which standardised procedures encounter differences in field conditions, sampling capacity, sample handling, metadata and quality control. These experiences will also inform how monitoring data generated through a common framework can be connected to the diverse biodiversity questions that motivate sampling in different regions. ANEMONE Global therefore provides a real-world test of how far a standardised eDNA workflow can travel, and what needs to change when it does. The challenge is not simply to make eDNA comparable across borders, but to ensure that globally coordinated data remain relevant to the local and regional biodiversity questions for which they are collected.