Environmental DNA—eDNA—is genetic material shed by living creatures, from creeping water-primrose to fishing spiders, bats and humans. It’s everywhere and scientists easily find it in water and soil samples. But what then?
Since 2016, University of Victoria (UVic) biochemistry and microbiology professor Caren Helbing has led iTrackDNA, which develops tools to collect and identify the molecules collected in the wild.
“iTrackDNA is a large-scale applied research project to build capacity for environmental monitoring and assessment,” Helbing says. “We continue to develop new methods, new tools to test for DNA and RNA in environmental samples to check on species at risk, invasive species and socio-economically important species.”
iTrackDNA has more than 100 assays to test for specific animals from fish to moose and is adding RNA assays as well.
We now have this capacity to collect very reliable data and use it to inform conservation and remediation.”
— Caren Helbing
In fact, Helbing is the person who led the development of reliability standards so that government, industry and communities can use eDNA effectively to monitor species and guide policy.
Biodiversity monitoring in the community
One of Helbing’s recent PhD graduates worked with Indigenous communities and Kitasoo Xai’Xais First Nation to survey rockfish conservation areas. They found that by comparing the visual data collected by scuba divers with eDNA findings, they got more comprehensive information about the ecological niches occupied by each of BC’s 60 species of rockfish.
A current PhD student is tracking humpback whales in relation to ship traffic. Yet another is using eDNA to estimate the size of eulachon runs each year and help determine protection areas for the larvae.
“These are wonderful examples,” Helbing says, “of how to get information about managing a critical resource without destroying it.
“The question now is: what else can we do with all these data?”
And Helbing already has an answer.
First-ever, user-friendly global biodiversity data platform
With $1.5 million over two years from Genome BC, announced on Thursday, Helbing is bringing eDNA Explorer to Canada. The platform, which originated at the University of California Santa Cruz, brings together eDNA projects from around the world. Users from beginners to experts can store, analyze and compare data. Read Genome BC’s news release.
“It’s the first user-friendly platform of its kind,” says Helbing. “It’s very flexible. People can use the platform and make their data public or keep them private – it’s owner controlled.”
Helbing and her team will hold four consultative workshops for prospective eDNA Explorer users over the summer of 2025. Insurance companies, for example, can use it to evaluate risk of wildfire impact on biodiversity, communities can see the impact of restoration, and mining companies can effectively track remediation efforts.
Helbing and team will also solicit input from experts and the public about what functionality they would like to see, as eDNA Explorer Canada develops.
While the US and Canada platforms will be interconnected, allowing data to be shared and compared, data security and data sovereignty will be honoured.
“By helping ecosystem managers share methods and results, eDNA Explorer aims to remove the barriers to running eDNA projects and analyzing data,” says eDNA Explorer Chief Executive Officer Julie Stanford, who is an expert in human-computer interaction. “We hope that this tool will increase the trust and confidence in eDNA as a tool for understanding and managing our living world.”
“We’ve made huge strides to create reliable ways to find and identify nucleic acids in water and soil to see the unseen,” Helbing says. “This new initiative takes that wonderful work to the communities, regulators, lawmakers, policy makers and makes it accessible and usable.”
