The objective of this Statement of Need was to support the maturation of Environmental DNA (eDNA) from fundamental research to the applied research level with the anticipation that a future tool in conservation in both terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems relevant to Department of Defense (DoD) lands might be developed.

Specific research objectives included the following:

1. Determine the temporal and spatial distribution of eDNA in habitats of relevance on DoD lands as related to temporal and spatial biodiversity of ecosystems in general and the distribution of at-risk or specific threatened and endangered species.
2. Advance the science and the body of knowledge necessary to provide improved confidence in species presence and absence determinations and eDNA measurements.
3. Expand the science and the body of knowledge necessary to provide increasingly precise links between eDNA concentration and species abundance.

Proposers were asked to specifically state the rationale for their research approach, describe their understating of current practice, and explain how their approach would result in new insight into the collection and critical interpretation of eDNA results. Proposers were required to demonstrate a knowledge of the current state of eDNA science and relevant current and past SERDP research efforts and place their proposed research within the context of the current state of knowledge. Proposers were asked to clearly articulate their objectives in terms of knowledge points or research objectives critical to the success and further progress of their proposed project. If a knowledge point or objective was critical for overall project success, the proposer should have established it as a go/no go criterion and should have stated an approach to risk mitigation should the research outcome not meet the established go criterion. To the extent that the proposal sought the development of a new eDNA management method or an improvement in a current method, the proposal should have included a preliminary examination of the apparent cost and benefit of incorporating the new method, should one result from the research. To the extent that modeling was proposed, a model validation scheme using observed, non-synthetic data and an approach leading to incorporation of the resultant model into proposed or existing tools must have been explicitly described. All three research objectives did not need to be addressed in any individual proposal.

Funded projects will appear below as project overviews are posted to the website.