eDNA workshop

Over 60 participants from across North America joined the first Canadian Oilsands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) virtual workshop on “Genomics & eDNA”, an initiative from the Land EPA. Participants represented various sectors, including the oil and gas industry, environmental consulting companies, regulatory agencies, and academia. The intent was (1) to share current research on the applications of genomics and eDNA tools for biodiversity monitoring and reclamation assessment in oil and gas reclamation and comparable settings, (2) identify specific applications, limitations, and knowledge gaps of genomics and eDNA tools as it relates to oil sands reclamation and biodiversity monitoring, and (3) engage collaborations between industry, academia and consultants to generate new research projects. Presentations focused on targeted species and community-level metagenomic research programs, and included technological innovations and opportunities created by these innovations for applications within the oilsands setting, and the oil and gas sector in general.

Key Take-aways: (1) increasing eDNA research and pilot projects are being conducted in the OSR related to environmental monitoring, often as collaborations between academic researchers, industry managers and consulting scientists; (2) eDNA assessment surveys are being compared with traditional sampling methods for a variety of species and broader ecosystem characterization studies, and a strong alignment has been observed; (3) eDNA analysis has great potential to add to the environmental assessment toolbox; (4) advantages include cost, ability to assess taxa more comprehensively, and less destructive sampling methods; (5) current challenges include limited availability of validated assays for some species/phylogenetic groups, and issues in some studies with false positives and/or false negatives. Current lack of testing method standardization contributes to reduced confidence of end users in the results, and there is limited eDNA lab capacity beyond academic research institutions; (6) next steps include standardization of sampling design and analytical methodology and quality assurance/control protocols. A national working group of academics, researchers, government bodies and consulting firms has formed to advance standardization through the Canadian Standards Association.