The eDNA Society International Meeting 2023, “moving from knowledge into practice”

Abstract

With the aim to gather and synthesize knowledge regarding environmental DNA analysis and its applications, The eDNA Society International Meeting 2023 was held in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, from May 17th to 19th with more than 252 participants from 19 countries. During the three core days, there were three plenary sessions with nine leading researchers in the field as invited speakers, as well as general oral sessions, a poster session, workshops presented by the society's corporate companies, and opening and closing ceremonies. The meeting had been postponed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic but was finally held in-person, with options for online attendance, in front of Lake Biwa. This is a memorial site where the first field test for eDNA analysis in Japan was conducted. Here, we report the record of the meeting by sharing the highlights of the three core days. The proposed meeting theme, “Moving from Knowledge into Practice, ” was well achieved during the meeting with energetic participants and enthusiastic discussion, which was stimulated by interesting presentations and lectures spanning from basic technical developments to practical applications.