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SHORT COMMUNICATIONMammalian Biologyhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-026-00603-5Handling editor: Chantal Poteaux. Holly A. Broadhursth.a.broadhurst1@salford.ac.uk Allan D. McDevittallan.mcdevitt@atu.ie1 School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, UK2 NatureScot, Great Glen House, Leachkin Road, Inverness, UK3 Natural England, Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol, UK4 Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Atlantic Technological University, Galway, IrelandAbstractAssessing the distribution and diversity of terrestrial and semi-aquatic mammals is fundamental for ef f ective conservation ef f orts. Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has emerged as a rapid and cost-ef f ective method for surveying mam-mals. It has promising avenues for conducting national surveys and enabling comprehensive assessments of mammalian populations across diverse habitats. We collected eDNA samples from 60 water systems across six regions in England (from north to south), United Kingdom, over a period of up to four days in each region. We detected 26 mammals from fi ve taxonomic orders across all sampling locations, recovering 53–89% of the known mammal community in each region. Our fi ndings underscore the feasibility of utilising eDNA metabarcoding for rapidly surveying mammal populations on a national scale, potentially complementing data from existing surveys/records or implementing in data def i cient regions. However, challenges remain for surveying certain species using this method, with varying levels of detectability of key species (e.g. otters) across regions.Keywords Biodiversity · Conservation · Community composition · Freshwater ecosystems · Non-invasive sampling · Species monitoringReceived: 2 February 2026 / Accepted: 3 June 2026© The Author(s) 2026A rapid national survey of terrestrial and semi-aquatic mammals using environmental DNA metabarcodingHolly A. Broadhurst 1  · Elin E. Smith 1  · Jake M. Jackman 1  · Robert Raynor 2  · Claire Howe 3  · Naiara Guimarães Sales 1  · Allan D. McDevitt 1,42020). This alarming trend highlights the urgent need for rapid and more ef f ective survey methods for long-term biodiversity surveillance. Traditional methods such as camera trapping, live trapping, and fi eld sign surveys can be used in isolation or in combination to provide compre-hensive assessments. These methods have provided valu-able insights into mammal populations but also present limitations, including ethical concerns over live trapping, misidentif i cation of fi eld signs, and biases from camera trap placement and species identif i cation (Mathews et al. 2018). Additionally, population trends are only regularly moni-tored for a few key species (Coomber et al. 2021).Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding involves identifying multiple species simultaneously through next-generation sequencing of DNA extracted from environmen-tal samples (e.g., water, soil, or air) and has emerged as an ef f ective method for detecting terrestrial and semi-aquatic mammals globally (Broadhurst et al. 2025a). Compared to traditional survey methods, eDNA metabarcoding is often more time and cost-ef f ective, providing rapid snapshots of mammalian communities (e.g. Sales et al. 2020; Lyet et al. 2021) and valuable insights into species diversity and IntroductionIn Great Britain, there are 40 species of terrestrial and semi-aquatic mammals (Native: 26 species; naturalised: 7, non-native: 7) and approximately one quarter of its native mammals are at risk of extinction (Mathews and Harrower