24 Feb 2026
Photo by Jay Alexander New data from a national survey of British coastal waters has found average microplastic concentrations of 59 particles per cubic metre of seawater, more than double the levels recorded in comparable surveys in 2022 and 2023, which found averages of 23 and 20 MP/m³ respectively. The highest single reading, 418 […]
06 May 2024
A new study by a University of Sussex research team has identified 81 different marine species along the Sussex coastline, including tope shark, tub gurnard fish and the critically endangered European eel. Research led by Prof Mika Peck and Dr Valentina Scarponi, shows how using a combination of two biomonitoring tools, Baited Remote Underwater Video […]
24 Nov 2020
DNA – based methods offer a significant opportunity to change how we monitor and assess biodiversity. These techniques may provide cheaper alternatives to existing species monitoring or an ability to detect species that we cannot currently detect reliably. However, for most species, there is still much development required before they can be used in routine monitoring. […]
25 Feb 2020
Yorkshire Water has become the first UK water company to join the 1000 Rivers eDNA project, a new and exciting non-profit citizen science project led by NatureMetrics in collaboration with the University of Hull and other partners. The project encourages everyone, from companies to scientists, to use groundbreaking environmental DNA (eDNA) monitoring provided by NatureMetrics […]
11 Oct 2017
Environment Agency: A PhD student at Bangor University, co-funded by the Environment Agency, has taken us closer to using DNA analysis for routine monitoring of freshwater macroinvertebrates (animals a few millimetres long such as insect larvae). The project successfully used new techniques to analyse environmental DNA (eDNA) released by organisms into water, for example in […]
30 May 2017
Interesting developments with environmental DNA A survey of deepwater fisheries off the coast of Greenland which used traces of fish DNA has produced similar results to trawl surveys and fishing catches. The ‘environmental DNA’ (eDNA) technique can therefore complement trawl data, the researchers say. It may be particularly useful for surveying large species — which can […]
04 Jan 2017
Environment Agency: A new DNA method that could revolutionise the way fish are monitored in lakes has been shown to detect 14 of 16 key fish species known to be present in Lake Windermere, compared to just four species found by conventional surveys. Fish are sensitive indicators of water quality and their assessment is an […]