The Pathway to Increase Standards and Competency of eDNA Surveys (PISCeS) 2023 conference—Towards standardization and data management in the field of eDNA

The second iteration of the international conference "Pathway to Increase Standards and Competency of eDNA Surveys" was held at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada from 18 June to 20 June 2023. During this environmental DNA (eDNA) conference, 60 oral and 25 poster presentations from academia, government, industry, NGOs, and Indigenous partners discussed the latest developments in eDNA research, explored strategies to inform public policy, and presented future directions in the field. The conference also included three panel discussions focused on prominent themes in the eDNA space, and five workshops dedicated to practical eDNA tools and methods. Recordings of presentations at the conference have been made available on YouTube. Here we summarize the major themes covered during the conference, provide our concluding remarks, and share the conference abstracts.