A fungal perspective: Ecological reinterpretation of short‐term temporal variation in airborne eDNA

Airborne environmental DNA (eDNA) is a powerful tool for assessing biodiversity, but its temporal dynamics and applicability to fungi remain poorly understood. Here we discuss how short‐term airborne eDNA variation should be interpreted for fungal communities. We synthesized current knowledge of airborne fungal ecology and aerobiology, comparing it with patterns observed for plants and vertebrates under passive sampling over 1–2‐week periods, focusing on differences in particle accumulation, persistence and the temporal resolution of signals. Unlike plant and vertebrate eDNA, which reflect near‐real‐time changes in community composition, fungal eDNA accumulates over time due to durable, abundant spores. Short‐term fluctuations in airborne fungal eDNA largely reflect deposition dynamics and atmospheric processes rather than immediate changes in source communities. Recognizing sampling differences between taxa groups is essential for designing sampling regimes and interpreting fungal airborne eDNA, enabling fungi to serve as a robust model for calibrating and validating passive eDNA approaches across taxa, and highlighting areas for future research.