This project has now closed. Thank you to all who took part.
GenePools was a three-year project that investigated the hidden and invisible life within ponds in urban areas, and their benefit to the environment, using novel DNA sequencing methods.
Community scientists surveyed their pond and sent in samples of the pond water. They then received a detailed report of what the DNA analysis had found living in their pond.
GenePools was a partnership between Natural England, Cefas, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Natural History Museum.
Investigated hidden pond life.
Type of activity: Outdoor sampling of a pond and an online survey.
Who can took part? People who had permission and access to an enclosed pond in one of six cities:
Plymouth, Bristol, London, Cambridge, Newcastle and Manchester.
When? April - July 2024.
Where? Any enclosed pond that had permission to sample.
How long will it take? Sampling took about 15-20 minutes. Online forms, up to 20 minutes to fill in.
In 2024, the third and final year of the project:
10%
of ponds contained fox DNA
53%
of ponds contained common frog DNA
14%
of ponds contained pond snail DNA
16%
of ponds contained earthworm DNA
8.5%
of ponds contained Phantom midge Chaoborus flavicans DNA
32%
of ponds contained waterlilly DNA
Dive into the data to see what was discovered.
If you are interested in protecting the health of UK waterways, here are some projects you could join:
‘Garden ponds are an important and unique part of the urban ecosystem, but scientists like me rarely have the opportunity to study them. I’m interested in how new technologies like sequencing the DNA in pond water can provide information about the functioning and health of aquatic habitats.’
David Bass
Cefas, lead researcher in the GenePools team
Watch the video below for an overview of environmental DNA (eDNA) or read our article.
Watch the Museum's Identification and Advisory Officer, Florin Feneru, sample a pond using the GenePools kit.
Please note: For 2024, the deadline to return kits is 15 July
Natural History Museum resources
Freshwater Trust resources
If you have any queries, please contact the Community Science team at communityscience@nhm.ac.uk with 'GenePools' in your subject line.
