Biodiversity loss is a major global concern, threatening the resilience of ecosystems and their capacity to support human well-being. Biodiversity analysis is important to detect rare, threatened or invasive species and to characterise ecosystem quality, and the success of conservation efforts. Traditional methods to assess biodiversity are expensive, time consuming and inefficient particularly for elusive species. They also pose the risk of misidentification. All organisms shed DNA into the environment particularly as epidermal cells, hair, waste and as extracellular DNA. This environmental (eDNA) can be extracted from water, soil or vegetation samples, and used in molecular methods to investigate the presence of either single species or to characterise the biodiversity of whole communities. eDNA based approaches provide alternatives to traditional surveys that are faster, cheaper, and more accurate – allowing the scaling up of biodiversity monitoring over large areas. The project will use eDNA analysis techniques to investigate urban biodiversity, including locally threatened and invasive species.
This project is a CENTA Flagship Project.
This project is suitable for CASE funding
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You will investigate aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity in urban habitats. Initial work will focus on comparative analysis of contrasting habitats eg city centre and urban fringe parkland or nature reserves as eDNA observatory areas with high temporal and spatial resolution of biodiversity. Further work will investigate biodiversity across larger spatial scales for targeted investigations such as to determine the way in which habitat connectivity, size and diversity influence communities, and the effectiveness of habitat management and restoration schemes in promoting biodiversity. You will use amplicon based approaches to investigate community level biodiversity of key taxa which could include mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish or invertebrates. This will be supplemented with targeted analysis of key species by quantitative PCR. This could include species undergoing population decline such as water voles, adders and white clawed crayfish, and invasive species such as mink and signal crayfish. The data will be used to determine the feasibility of using eDNA to address biodiversity related policy and evidence requirements, and will involve close collaboration with a range of stakeholders including Coventry City Council Warwickshire Wildlife Trust to select species and habitats to sample.
DRs will be awarded CENTA Training Credits (CTCs) for participation in CENTA-provided and ‘free choice’ external training. One CTC can be earned per 3 hours training, and DRs must accrue 100 CTCs across the three and a half years of their PhD.
Training will be provided by the supervisory team in a wide range of environmental science field sampling and analysis approaches. This will include amplicon based sequencing techniques for community level analysis of biodiversity, the development of quantitative PCR approaches for species detection, bioinformatic analysis and a range of statistical techniques to investigate species assemblages and drivers of community diversity (eg multivariate analysis). CASE partners Coventry City Council’s biodiversity team and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust will provide training in applied conservation and habitat restoration techniques
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust (WWT) is a leading conservation charity working across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull to protect wildlife and restore habitats. The Trust manages over 60 nature reserves and delivers projects that enhance biodiversity, improve landscape connectivity, and engage local communities. The project will contribute to WWT restoration projects and there will be opportunities to interact with staff, volunteers and community stakeholders, providing valuable experience in applied conservation and science-policy translation.
Coventry City Council’s Biodiversity Team works to protect and enhance wildlife across the city through planning advice, habitat restoration, ecological monitoring and community engagement. The team plays a key role in delivering the city’s biodiversity strategy, implementing biodiversity net gain, and promoting green infrastructure and nature recovery. The project will enable the student to support the integration of scientific evidence into local policy and planning.
Year 1: High resolution spatial and temporal analysis of biodiversity in contrasting urban habitats using community based amplicon approaches (continues across the 3 years)
Year 2: Development of targeted quantitative PCR approaches to detect specific invasive and threatened species
Year 3: Regional scale studies to investigate how key habitat features and habitat restoration schemes affect biodiversity
Allen et al., (2023) Sampling environmental DNA from trees and soil to detect cryptic arboreal mammals. Scientific Reports 13, 180.
King et al. (2022) Using eDNA to simultaneously detect the distribution of native and invasive crayfish within an entire country. Journal of Environmental Management 302, 113929
Ruppert et al (2019) Past, present, and future perspectives of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding: A systematic review in methods, monitoring, and applications of global eDNA. Global Ecology and Restoration 17, e00547.
For any enquiries related to this project please contact Gary Bending, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick [email protected].
To apply to this project:
Applications must be submitted by 23:59 GMT on Wednesday 7th January 2026.