Our ECOPOND Team from University of Łodz conducted in June 2020 a pilot study in order to prepare for spring 2021 sampling season in the best possible way.
Despite pandemic limitations and not very favorable weather conditions, they managed to take samples from 3 urban and 3 non-urban ponds (in Łodz and its surroundings). As a result, they were able to test filtering protocols and different fixatives to optimize the method of collecting both eDNA and eRNA, as well as considering a list of target taxa including bacteria, fungi, invertebrates and vertebrates. They are currently working in the laboratory to see which of the tested procedures worked best.
We look forward to the results of these analyses!