DIN EN 17805:2024-12

The monitoring of organisms is key to the assessment of the status of aquatic ecosystems and is required by national and international legislation such as the European Union Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). A range of methods have been described how to monitor organisms in aquatic environments, leading to a wide range of European standards (for example, EN 14011:2003, EN 14757:2015, EN 15460:2007). These approaches, however, necessitate the capture and/or collection of the organisms of interest, which can be a laborious and time-consuming process. The possibility to detect the presence of organisms and/or quantify relative abundance (e.g. [6]) in aquatic environments via the analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) provides a novel means to monitor biodiversity across a wide range of taxonomic groups, including microorganisms, plants and animals. This approach allows to examine organismic diversity without the need to directly isolate and capture organisms and it is expected to play a key role for future biomonitoring aiming at temporally and spatially highly resolved species inventories. Albeit the power of the eDNA approach has been repeatedly reported, there is a great need for standardizing the application of eDNA-based assessment of aquatic biodiversity. Note, however, that eDNA-based biomonitoring currently does not allow to obtain certain population parameters (e.g. individual size, sex) which can be obtained by traditional sampling techniques. This document specifies procedures for sampling, capture and preservation of environmental DNA (eDNA) in aquatic environments, stemming from organisms that are or have recently been present in a waterbody, have visited it or whose DNA has been introduced to the waterbody through some mechanism. This document also covers procedures for avoiding sample contamination and ensuring DNA quality, key properties of the filtering procedure and equipment and reporting standards. This document does not include the collection of eDNA from biofilms, sediments or similar sample types and does not cover sampling designs. This document (EN 17805:2021) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 230 "Water analysis", the secretariat of which is held by DIN (Germany). The responsible German standardization committee is Working Group NA 119-01-03-05-06 AK "Biologisch-ökologische Gewässeruntersuchung" ("Biological-ecological water examination") of Working Committee NA 119-01-03 AA "Wasseruntersuchung" ("Water examination") at DIN Standards Committee Water Practice (NAW).