Report Highlights

• The ocean twilight zone is a vast and dynamic ecosystem harboring unique biodiversity that is difficult to monitor across spatial and temporal scales.
• Biodiversity in the ocean twilight zone is critical to ocean health and ecosystem resilience and supports ecosystem services that benefit all of society.
• Significant knowledge gaps in marine biodiversity hinder effective decision-making for conservation and resource management.
• Environmental DNA, or eDNA, analysis is an enabling technology for biodiversity monitoring that is scalable and cost-effective.
• With the 30x30 conservation goal fast approaching, new tools and an accelerated research agenda are needed to generate the necessary knowledge that will inform conservation and sustainable management of ocean resources.