Environmental DNA metabarcoding accelerates integral conservation assessments and species rediscoveries in tropical biodiversity hotspots

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is an emerging and versatile tool in biodiversity research. With recent advances in field sampling techniques, this approach becomes increasingly suited for application in tropical ecosystems where biodiversity monitoring gaps remain significant and species detection is particularly challenging. Using amphibians as a model, we demonstrate the efficiency of eDNA metabarcoding in 52 localities in the Tropical Andean biodiversity hotspot to rapidly trace elusive, threatened, or ‘lost’ species as a baseline for conservation action. Metabarcoding ‘bycatch’ of non-target species further revealed specific environmental threats through the detection of invasive species and pathogens, thus facilitating integral conservation assessments despite the incompleteness of reference data and the vast species richness hampering biodiversity assessments in complex tropical communities. Consequently, we call for more intense employment of eDNA metabarcoding in conservation to rapidly bridge critical knowledge gaps on elusive species or declining populations in tropical biodiversity hotspots.