Review of the potential use of metagenomics for monitoring soil health

Project and client

Waikato Regional Council contracted Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and the University of Auckland to undertake a review of the recent use of metagenomics to inform soil functioning and its application in soil environmental monitoring. 

Objectives

To review the national and international literature on the use and evaluation of metagenomics in soil quality monitoring to provide an assessment of the use of eDNA (environmental DNA) approaches for monitoring soils in New Zealand, focusing on metagenomics. To provide recommendations on the next steps for further investigating the integration of metagenomics methods into soil monitoring programmes.