Biodiversity conservation is a worldwide concern and proper management of threatened species or communities depends on reliable and accurate data collection. Despite the broad utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) for conservation management and the necessity for appropriate biodiversity management in the tropics, eDNA-based research conducted in tropical regions so far comprises only a small proportion of the cumulative eDNA literature. To address the growing demand for rapid and reliable species and community level ecological data in tropical regions, we provide an aquatic eDNA-focused review of (1) challenges and considerations for sampling design and inference of eDNA data in the tropics, and (2) eDNA applications relevant to ecological research and biodiversity management in the tropics. We propose that the collaborative incorporation of eDNA sampling with conventional field surveys harbours the potential to revolutionize the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation management in tropical regions.

中文翻译：

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用水生环境 DNA 方法加强热带保护和生态研究：非环境 DNA 专家介绍

生物多样性保护是全球关注的问题，对受威胁物种或社区的适当管理取决于可靠和准确的数据收集。尽管环境 DNA (eDNA) 在保护管理中具有广泛的用途，并且需要在热带进行适当的生物多样性管理，但迄今为止，在热带地区进行的基于 eDNA 的研究仅占累积 eDNA 文献的一小部分。为了满足热带地区对快速可靠的物种和社区级生态数据日益增长的需求，我们提供了一个以水生 eDNA 为重点的评论，内容涉及 (1) 热带地区 eDNA 数据采样设计和推断的挑战和考虑，以及 (2)与热带生态研究和生物多样性管理相关的 eDNA 应用。