Environmental DNA surveys of African biodiversity: State of knowledge, challenges, and opportunities

Abstract

Environmental DNA surveys have become a well-established tool for detecting natural communities, showing excellent promise for supporting biodiversity monitoring, conservation, and management efforts. Africa is a continent of exceptional biodiversity, threatened not only by anthropogenic pressures but also by a general lack of research capacity and infrastructure, limiting evaluation and monitoring of ecosystems. This commentary explores the use of environmental DNA in surveying natural diversity, a rapidly moving field, within the context of capturing Africa's natural capital. Through an extensive literature search and filtering, 65 papers from 22 countries were identified, with research from Madagascar and Africa forming the bulk of the literature (~38%), with many countries only represented by one to three papers. There was a diverse range of studies, with more than half reporting on communities or diet analyses; freshwater and marine research are underrepresented, accounting for ~5% of studies. There were some papers on disease monitoring, particularly in freshwater. Disturbingly, representation of authors was highly skewed and highlights the ongoing inequality of scientific publishing and the extent of parachute science; one-third of papers (n = 21) reported no African representation, in contrast with the 18 papers that had either first or senior authors affiliated with an institution in Africa. The remainder of the papers (n = 27) had at least one author affiliated with an African institution. In addition, less than half of papers reported appropriate sampling permits. Importantly and with a concerted global effort, building long-term capacity, through meaningful and equitable relationships will help increase self-sustaining science around technologies based on eDNA, thus ensuring not only biodiversity but also humanitarian benefits across Africa.