Kerstin Glaus1,2, Virginie Marques1.2, Camille Albouy1,2, Arnaud Lyet, Loic Pellissier1,2
1Department of Environmental Systems Science, Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, 2Unit of Land Change Science, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland, 3World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation, Washington DC, United States
Abstract:
Nature-positive actions are constrained by the absence of robust, scalable frameworks to measure biodiversity change and evaluate their impacts. WildInSync is a global community with the mission to accelerate the adoption of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a core tool to guide and evaluate nature-positive actions.
WildInSync is an alliance of universities and international organisations working together through a global network to develop and implement eDNA-based biodiversity monitoring. The network currently brings together more than xx researchers and practitioners across xx+ institutions, with >2,000 samples collected across xx sites. Its decentralized approach enables biodiversity monitoring to be developed locally while connecting observations, expertise and infrastructure across the global network, making eDNA accessible to partners beyond established centres of expertise.
WildInSync integrates eDNA observations with satellite-based remote sensing of habitats to track biodiversity change and its environmental context. Shared infrastructure and open data enable observations generated across regions and monitoring campaigns to be combined into a global evidence base, while global coordination and local ownership support the development of sustained regional monitoring capacity.
We present the WildInSync framework and its implementation across the network, highlighting how global coordination, local capacity and open access can support the widespread adoption of eDNA monitoring. This distributed approach provides a foundation for standardized biodiversity assessment across regions, for tracking biodiversity change and evaluating the effectiveness of conservation, restoration and other nature-positive actions.