TY - JOUR A1 - Bálint, Miklós A1 - Pfenninger, Markus A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Taberlet, Pierre A1 - Vellend, Mark A1 - Leibold, Mathew A. A1 - Englund, Goran A1 - Bowler, Diana T1 - Environmental DNA time series in ecology T2 - Trends in ecology & evolution N2 - Ecological communities change in time and space, but long-term dynamics at the century-to-millennia scale are poorly documented due to lack of relevant data sets. Nevertheless, understanding long-term dynamics is important for explaining present-day biodiversity patterns and placing conservation goals in a historical context. Here, we use recent examples and new perspectives to highlight how environmental DNA (eDNA) is starting to provide a powerful new source of temporal data for research questions that have so far been overlooked, by helping to resolve the ecological dynamics of populations, communities, and ecosystems over hundreds to thousands of years. We give examples of hypotheses that may be addressed by temporal eDNA biodiversity data, discuss possible research directions, and outline related challenges. Y1 - 2018 UR - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51127 SN - 0169-5347 SN - 1872-8383 VL - 33 IS - 12 SP - 945 EP - 957 PB - Elsevier CY - London ER -