Imagine scooping up a cup of water from a river and being able to tell what fish or animals have passed through, simply by looking at the water. It’s not science fiction, it is eDNA, and researchers are using it to gain profound amounts of population data that once required physical catching of animals. As animals move through the environment, they shed DNA through skin, mucus, feces, etc. These minute amounts of DNA can be found and identified in air, water, and soil samples.
Dr. Matt Ogburn from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) will share how the advancement of environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches provides new capabilities for studying fish populations in Maryland, including testing and applying approaches in projects ranging from assessing responses of fish populations to dam removal to understanding the diets of juvenile striped bass. We will also learn also about the Chesapeake Bay Barcode Initiative, which is developing an eDNA reference library to support a wide range of eDNA studies.
Dr. Matt Ogburn is a Senior Scientist at SERC, where he leads the Fisheries Conservation Lab. The lab focuses on understanding the ecology of fishery species, the ecosystems needed to support them, and how that information can be applied in management and conservation.