COBRA Webinar – December 2025

Harmonizing eDNA reference library development and taxonomy to close knowledge gaps in deep-sea biodiversity

Dr. Steven Auscavitch (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution) and Dr. Paula Rodríguez Flores (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle)

Environmental DNA (eDNA) collection is rapidly becoming a part of the exploration tool kit with the aim to help characterize marine biological communities. However, a persistent constraint on the interpretation of eDNA data is often limited by the specificity and confidence of taxonomic assignments to sequence variants. Improved taxonomic and geographic gap filling for genetic reference libraries through the use of next-generation sequencing techniques, like genome skimming, provide a scalable solution to rapidly enhance coverage. Using the same datasets, we will demonstrate some of the broadening use cases of genomic data to include species discovery, addressing taxonomic gaps, and explore ecological questions. In this webinar, we will discuss some of the recent workflow developments using these methods, species discoveries made using samples from ocean exploration expeditions, and address how voucher-based collections are an essential part of using eDNA for biodiversity characterization and monitoring.