News

Dear researchers, dear managers, dear stakeholders, dear all,

as part of the DNAquaIMG project under the Biodiversa+ initiative, we invite you to participate in a survey on national procedures for the sampling, preservation, and storage of benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) and diatom (DIA) samples across Europe.

We aim to assess the suitability of current sample preservation methods and their potential for reuse in transnational biodiversity monitoring, as well as in broader scientific investigations using imaging and DNA-based methods. To achieve this, we need to better understand and standardize national protocols and practices.

Questionnaire:  https://forms.office.com/e/CnJebBqPcN

Please submit your reply by November 30, 2024. Thank you for your support!

We highly appreciate your time and effort to fill this questionnaire and thank you in advance for your valuable support in this important task!

26.+27.09.2024

The Water Science Alliance  invited researchers and stakeholders to the 14. Water Research Horizon Conference, hosted in collaboration with the  HELMHOLTZ Zentrum für Umweltforschung (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany. Our team members Florian Leese  and Marie-Thérése Werner (Aquatic Ecosystem Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany) presented the DNAquaIMG project and discussed about “Valorization of water research to overcome current and future water crises”.

16.-20.09.2024

From the 16th to 20th of September 2024, the annual meeting of the German Society of Limnology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Limnologie, DGL) took place in Dresden, Germany. We are happy to announce that our team members  Michael Kloster and Dina Abdelmguid (Phycology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany) were invited to present their research results about “Web-based digital diatom taxonomy intercalibration ” and “Deep learning for biodiversity monitoring of benthic diatoms in freshwater ecosystems“.

Congratulations to Dina Abdelmguid on her poster award!

15.+16.05.2024

Many members of the DNAquaIMG team met for the Kick-off Meeting  in Essen, Germany at the University of Duisburg-Essen. During the productive meeting, the work package leaders presented the goals, deliverables, tasks and milestones of the project and we had the chance to discuss the open questions and challenges in person. In addition, we are very grateful having inspiring talks by our invited guests Adriana Radulovici (International Barcode of Life, Canada) about Connecting People, Barcodes and Biodiversity and  Toke Thomas Høye (Aarhus University, Denmark) about Synergies!

Thanks to all members, DNAquaIMG stands for a fantastic group of people!

17.+18.04.2024

During the inspiring Kick-off meeting in Tallinn all 33 funded projects were presented by the project coordinators to get to know the variety of projects and explore synergies. Find out more about the context, main objectives, and activities of the different projects in the brochure: https://www.biodiversa.eu/2022/10/07/2022-2023-joint-call/

01.03.2024

DNAquaIMG – Innovative transnational aquatic biodiversity monitoring using high-throughput DNA tools and automated image recognition – is one of 33 successful biodiversa+ projects from the BiodivMon call 2022: Improved transnational monitoring and ecosystem change for science and society.

DNAquaIMG will develop and test an efficient and effective approach to monitor freshwater invertebrates and diatoms with novel DNA- and automated image-based biodiversity assessment methods. Together with stakeholders involved in environmental monitoring, the consortium will develop a roadmap for European freshwater biodiversity monitoring using these methods within the existing and well-established context of the European Water Framework Directive.

The DNAquaIMG team consists of nearly 50 members from 14 research institutions in 11 European countries.