Aquatic biomonitoring has become an essential task in Europe and many other regions as a consequence of strong anthropogenic pressures affecting the health of lakes, rivers, oceans and groundwater. A typical assessment of the environmental quality status, such as it is required by European but also North American and other legislation, relies on matching the composition of assemblages of organisms identified using morphological criteria present in aquatic ecosystems to those expected in the absence of anthropogenic pressures. Through decade-long and difficult intercalibration exercises among networks of regulators and scientists in European countries, a pragmatic biomonitoring approach was developed and adopted, which now produces invaluable information. Nonetheless, this approach is based on several hundred different protocols, making Next-Generation Biomonitoring of Aquatic Ecosystems

The protection, preservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems and their functions are of global importance. For European states it became legally binding mainly through the EU-Water Framework Directive (WFD). In order to assess the ecological status of a given water body, aquatic biodiversity data are obtained and compared to a reference water body. The quantified mismatch obtained determines the extent of potential management actions. The current approach to biodiversity assessment is based on morpho-taxonomy. This approach has many drawbacks such as being time consuming, limited in temporal and spatial resolution, and error-prone due to the varying individual taxonomic expertise of the analysts. Novel genomic tools can overcome many of the aforementioned problems and could complement or even replace traditional bioassessment. Yet, a plethora of approaches are independently developed in different institutions, thereby hampering any concerted routine application. The goal of this Action is to nucleate a group of researchers across disciplines with the task to identify gold-standard genomic tools and novel ecogenomic indices for routine application in biodiversity assessments of European fresh-and marine water bodies. Furthermore, DNAqua-Net will provide a platform for training of the next generation of European researchers preparing them for the new technologies. Jointly with water managers, politicians, and other stakeholders, the group will develop a

Global conservation policy and action have largely neglected protecting and monitoring genetic diversity—one of the three main pillars of biodiversity. Genetic diversity (diversity within species) underlies species’ adaptation and survival, ecosystem resilience, and societal innovation. The low priority given to genetic diversity has largely been due to knowledge gaps in key areas, including the importance of genetic diversity and the trends in genetic diversity change; the perceived high expense and low availability and the scattered nature of genetic data; and complicated concepts and information that are inaccessible to policymakers. However, numerous recent advances in knowledge, technology, databases, practice, and capacity have now set the stage for better integration of genetic diversity in policy instruments and conservation efforts. We review these developments and explore how they can support improved consideration of genetic diversity in global conservation policy commitments and enable countries to monitor, report on, and take action to maintain or restore genetic diversity.

Apple genetic resources in Norway are currently conserved within a number of local clonal archives. However, during establishment of these ex situ collections, primary focus was not on capturing as much of the diversity as possible, but instead on preserving cultivars of particular importance to specific fruit-growing areas. To identify redundancies within the collection as well as to assess the genetic diversity and structure of apple germplasm currently being conserved in Norway, eight microsatellites were used in genetic characterization of 181 apple accessions. Overall, 14 cases of synonym or possibly mislabeled accessions were identified, as well as several homonyms and duplicates within and among the analyzed collections. The information obtained should contribute to overall better management of the preserved germplasm. Bayesian analysis of genetic structure revealed two major clusters, one containing most of the foreign cultivars, while the other consisted mainly of traditional Scandinavian cultivars, but also some very winter-hardy genotypes such as ‘Charlamovsky’, ‘Gravenstein’, ‘Transparente Blanche’, and ‘Wealthy’. Analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) detected a significant genetic differentiation among the clusters (fCT = 0.077; P < 0.01). The results of the Bayesian analyses do not indicate a strong differentiation between the foreign and the Norwegian apple accessions, however, they do suggest that climate adaptation has had a significant influence on the genetic structure of the preserved germplasm. Overall, apple accessions currently maintained ex situ in Norway represent a diverse germplasm which could be very valuable in future breeding programs, especially for the Scandinavian climate.

European plum cultivars (Prunus domestica L.) are hexaploid and partially self-fertile or self-sterile requiring compatible pollinizers with overlapping bloom times. Therefore, inter-planting of different pollinizer cultivars is recommended. In order to identify successful pollinizers of the plum cultivars ‘Edda’, ‘Opal’ (self-fertile), ‘Jubileum’, ‘Reeves’, ‘Mallard’, ‘Avalon’, ‘Cacanska Lepotica’ (self-fertile), and ‘Valor’, 60 fruits per cultivar were collected from nine orchards in 2017 and 2018, all of which were located in Ullensvang, western Norway. DNA extraction was subsequently conducted from the obtained embryos, followed by genetic characterization using seven microsatellite markers. Tissue samples from all possible pollinizers were collected during the summer of 2017 and the same DNA approach was conducted. Results showed that ‘Opal’ was the most successful pollinizer among the investigated plum cultivars. The main exception was ‘Cacanska Lepotica’, which consistently displayed very high level of self-pollination. The most successful foreign pollinizer of ‘Opal’ was ‘Mallard’. However, in more than two thirds of embryos extracted from ‘Opal’ fruits self-fertilization was determined. ‘Reeves’ was identified as the most successful pollinizer among embryos collected from ‘Valor’. Among the five cultivars (‘Edda’, ‘Jubileum’, ‘Reeves’, ‘Mallard’, and ‘Avalon’) that did not display self-pollination, the pollinizer success rate of ‘Opal’, ranged from 36.5% (‘Mallard’) to 93.5% (‘Edda’) in 2017, while in 2018 this rate ranged from 43.5% (‘Jubileum’ and ‘Reeves’) up to 96.5% (‘Edda’). Overall, genotyping embryos using SSRs (simple sequence repeats) proved an effective method in determining the success rate of individual pollinizers among European plum cultivars.