The Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CJFAS) recently selected a paper from the Upper Columbia for their 2021 Editor’s Choice! CJFAS is a preeminent journal in fisheries with the means of highlighting articles of particularly high caliber and topical importance. The paper, It’s complicated … environmental DNA as a predictor of trout and char abundance in streams, provides in depth information on the importance of environmental DNA (eDNA) as an emerging scientific tool that can help us evaluate fish distribution and abundance at a low cost and across a much broader area than previously possible.
The eDNA method is quite simple in that researchers simply collect water samples and use molecular methods to detect the DNA signature of cellular material shed by organisms (via skin, excrement, etc.). Such methodology is important for the early detection of invasive species as well as the detection of rare and cryptic species.
*The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation’s Okanogan Basin Evaluation and Monitoring Program (OBMEP) played a big part in this work (a special shout out to Brian Miller and Matt Laramie).
