What we do :

UK Conservation & Rewilding

Our reduced costs for conservation groups put powerful data in the hands of those that care most for biodiversity.

DNA-based methods provide a cost-effective and data-rich way to monitor and evaluate your rewilding project.

We help UK companies, NGOs and community groups find out about the diverse wildlife that is present in or around waterbodies by giving them access to our eDNA services for biodiversity projects.

A global eDNA programme in partnership with IUCN

Strengthening our understanding of UK biodiversity is a priority for effective management, yet we have an urgent need for better data. NatureMetrics scientists have developed scalable DNA based monitoring technologies that complement our existing biodiversity dataflows, giving rise to a new data layer for biodiversity generated using DNA species leave behind in their environment.

Recognising the urgent need to scale up ecological monitoring as we respond to the biodiversity and climate crises, the DNAqua-Net international network have published a guidance document for the implementation of DNA-based biomonitoring tools.

Freshwater Habitats Trust is a UK charity with a mission to protect freshwater life for everyone to enjoy. As an evidence-based conservation charity, FHT promotes a strong science grounding in all their work. FHT approached us to help them carry out aquatic eDNA surveys around the River Ock catchment in Oxfordshire to collect baseline data on fish populations.

We worked with Ecosulis as part of CreditNATURE, a three-month feasibility study funded through Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund to assist Highlands Rewilding – a new company founded by eco-entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett – to map soil fauna and fungi across the 511-hectare Bunloit estate on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland.

River Action Project Chairman Charles Watson conducted eDNA surveys of aquatic macroinvertebrates in three Hampshire chalk streams as part of the Upper Itchen Initiative.

RSBP Scotland collaborated with NatureMetrics to conduct a pilot eDNA study in five lochs. They aimed to better understand the ecology of Scottish lochs and their suitability as habitat for the Common Scoter, a rare duck species.

Fish communities obtained from monthly eDNA samples on the River Thames were compared with Environment Agency electrofishing records in the nearby area. eDNA detected more species per unit effort and provided consistent data on a number of important species that are routinely under-sampled in electrofishing.

When WWF Peru approached us to help survey six aquatic species including Amazon manatees, pink river dolphins and migratory catfish along the Marañon river in the Northern Peruvian Amazon as part of their Healthy Rivers programme, we knew that our aquatic eDNA service would prove an invaluable resource.