Dr Nikola Hanžek, an employee of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute, participated in the workshop “Best Practices in eDNA Monitoring of Aquatic Ecosystems” on 25–26 September 2025, dedicated to environmental DNA (eDNA). On this occasion, he delivered a lecture entitled “Application of Environmental DNA for the Identification of Phytoplankton Communities in Karst Lakes”.

The workshop was organised by Assoc. Prof. Dr Ana Bielen (Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, PBF), Dr Thomas Baudry (PBF), and Dr Matej Vucić (Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb; eDNAture.eu).

The first day included lectures and discussions on the possibilities and challenges of applying eDNA, from nature conservation to epidemiology. The day concluded with a roundtable discussion, where participants exchanged views on the potential applications of environmental DNA in their respective fields, as well as ideas for future research and collaboration.

On the second day, a field demonstration was held in Maksimir Park, in cooperation with Priroda – Public Institution for the Management of Protected Areas of the City of Zagreb and the Zagreb Zoo, where participants went through all the steps from water sampling to DNA analysis. This was followed by a lecture guiding participants through all phases of applying environmental DNA in the detection of target species, from study design and laboratory protocols to bioinformatic data analysis and interpretation of sequencing results.

The workshop was also covered by Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), and a report will be broadcast in the programme Eko Zona on HRT4.

The event was held with the financial support of the Croatian Science Foundation, as part of the Swiss–Croatian project DROP (Effects of Different Temperature Regimes on Host-Pathogen Dynamics in Freshwater Ecosystems).