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Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies

Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies is a research topic within Ecology. Science Explorer counts 15k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers revolves around the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) and related techniques such as metabarcoding and next-generation sequencing for monitoring and assessing biodiversity in various ecosystems, with a focus on aquatic environments. The papers cover topics such as species detection, biodiversity assessment, conservation genetics, and the application of eDNA in ecological and environmental studies.

  • Environmental DNA
  • Metabarcoding
  • Biodiversity Monitoring
  • Next-Generation Sequencing
  • Conservation Genetics
  • Species Detection
  • DNA Barcoding
  • Aquatic Ecosystems
  • Ecological Assessment
  • Molecular Ecology
Research works
15k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+31%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
26% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies

Which countries lead Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (824 and 797 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 824 works
  2. 2 China 797 works
  3. 3 Japan 233 works
  4. 4 France 230 works
  5. 5 Germany 230 works
  6. 6 Australia 208 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 200 works
  8. 8 Canada 199 works
  9. 9 India 150 works
  10. 10 Spain 135 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 25.7%China: 24.9%Japan: 7.3%France: 7.2%6 others listed: 35.0%26%largest
United States824 · 25.7%China797 · 24.9%Japan233 · 7.3%France230 · 7.2%6 others listed1,121 · 35.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 99 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 94 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 52 works
  4. 4 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 44 works
  5. 5 Leibniz AssociationGermany 37 works
  6. 6 United States Geological SurveyUnited States 29 works
  7. 7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationUnited States 23 works
  8. 8 Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research OrganisationAustralia 22 works
  9. 9 Shanghai Ocean UniversityChina 22 works
  10. 10 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies include Rob Knight, Richard M. Durbin and Peer Bork.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Richard M. Durbin United Kingdom 410k citations
  3. 3 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  4. 4 Steven L. Salzberg United States 372k citations
  5. 5 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  6. 6 Sudhir Kumar United States 295k citations
  7. 7 Richard A. Gibbs United States 292k citations
  8. 8 Huanming Yang China 246k citations
  9. 9 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  10. 10 Eugene V. Koonin United States 217k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies?

The most cited paper in Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies is "Greengenes, a Chimera-Checked 16S rRNA Gene Database and Workbench Compatible with ARB" (Todd Z. DeSantis, Philip Hugenholtz, Nis Elbrønd Larsen et al., 2006), with 11,348 citations. Next come "Global patterns of 16S rRNA diversity at a depth of millions of sequences per sample" (10,238) and "SILVA: a comprehensive online resource for quality checked and aligned ribosomal RNA sequence data compatible with ARB" (6,958).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Greengenes, a Chimera-Checked 16S rRNA Gene Database and Workbench Compatible with ARB Todd Z. DeSantis, Philip Hugenholtz, Nis Elbrønd Larsen et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology Jul 2006 11,348
2 Global patterns of 16S rRNA diversity at a depth of millions of sequences per sample J. Gregory Caporaso, Christian L. Lauber, William A. Walters et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 3 Jun 2010 10,238
3 SILVA: a comprehensive online resource for quality checked and aligned ribosomal RNA sequence data compatible with ARB Elmar Pruesse, Christian Quast, Katrin Knittel et al. · Nucleic Acids Research Open access 18 Oct 2007 6,958
4 bold : The Barcode of Life Data System (http://www.barcodinglife.org) Sujeevan Ratnasingham, Paul D. N. Hebert · Molecular Ecology Notes Open access 24 Jan 2007 6,485
5 Interactive Tree of Life (iTOL) v6: recent updates to the phylogenetic tree display and annotation tool Ivica Letunić, Peer Bork · Nucleic Acids Research Open access 2 Apr 2024 4,591
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies research done?

The largest centres of Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Paris (France), Washington D.C. (United States) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Guelph.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 195 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 86 works
  3. 3 Washington D.C.United States 56 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 56 works
  5. 5 TokyoJapan 50 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 48 works
  7. 7 GuangzhouChina 43 works
  8. 8 LondonUnited Kingdom 42 works
  9. 9 OttawaCanada 36 works
  10. 10 QingdaoChina 32 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GuelphCA · 20.8 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies than the world average.

See Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Copenhagen, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hohai University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 19.37%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Hohai UniversityUniversity of Copenh…University of Chines…University of Guelph
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of CopenhagenDenmark 68.818.8%4.8×18 +37.8%
2University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 64.218.5%3.2×21 +38.5%
3Hohai UniversityChina 64.034.7%4.3×10 +73.1%
4University of GuelphCanada 60.413.3%18.0×21 -21.3%
5UiT The Arctic University of NorwayNorway 58.619.8%15.3×11 +9.2%
6Curtin UniversityAustralia 57.616.1%8.4×11 +52.4%
7University of WashingtonUnited States 57.023.4%2.9×14 +21.5%
8ETH ZurichSwitzerland 55.520.2%4.1×11 +7.2%
9Shanghai Ocean UniversityChina 53.05.6%23.7×22 +469.7%
10Beijing Normal UniversityChina 51.823.3%3.1×10 +240.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies, country by country

Is Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 31% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.017% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies0.020% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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