This Technical Information Note sets out the recommended metadata to be provided when submitting DNA derived data to Natural England (where Natural England is not the commissioner) to allow a judgement of confidence to be made in the data, and helps the data to be used appropriately.
Understanding how a sample has been taken, stored, extracted, amplified, sequenced and the bioinformatics processes that have been used, allows the data user to make a judgement of confidence in the data and therefore understand how to use the data appropriately. For example, knowing the primer used, allows the data user to assess their suitability for detecting species from the target taxonomic group being tested for e.g. vertebrates.
The recommendations within this note are not mandatory, and data will be accepted without metadata, although it may affect the confidence Natural England can have in the data, and therefore how it can be used.
The metadata templates published alongside this note provided a standardised form for metadata reporting. There is one for single species data and one for metabarcoding data, we encourage anyone publishing, mobilising or providing DNA data to complete these forms. Whilst not mandatory when Natural England is not the commissioner, their completion will form a key part of the requirements for DNA data collection when Natural England is the commissioner.
We would like to thank those from industry and academia who joined two workshops during the drafting of these guidelines.