Judith Bakker

My PhD research is focussed on the development and application of an environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding approach for the assessment of marine (and some freshwater) communities, with a particular focus on elasmobranch species, linking community differences detected through eDNA analysis with specific environmental and/or anthropogenic factors. By additionally comparing community differences detected through eDNA with existing knowledge gathered by using more traditional techniques, I aim to develop and apply this novel eDNA approach for the investigation of elasmobranch diversity and abundance in order to assess species richness in areas of special conservation concern. Developing the eDNA metabarcoding method for elasmobranchs will lead to improvement, streamlining and speeding up of the process of detecting and characterising diversity and geographical distributions, in a non-invasive manner. With the potential to drastically enhance our ability to assess and monitor elasmobranchs, this is expected to contribute to improved conservation strategies.