Environmental DNA Assessment of Biodiversity, Abundance & Phenology of Hudson Estuary Fishes

When:

May 20, 2020: 10:30AM to 12:00PM

Where:

ONLINE WEBINAR

Due to safety concerns around the coronavirus outbreak, the Hudson River Foundation is moving to a webinar-only format for our Ned Ames spring seminar series. Please refer to the Hudson River Foundation website for updated information on all upcoming events.

Effective management of Hudson River ecosystems requires monitoring of species diversity and ranges, but traditional surveys can be costly and even harmful to wildlife. Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis can be used to quickly assay biodiversity and other organismic metrics in a non-invasive manner. This method has great potential for detecting rare and cryptic native species, invasive species, and range expansions and shifts due to climate change. The project builds on eDNA techniques (including metabarcoding and qPCR) developed to analyze eel abundances in the Bronx River and optimizes these methods assessing fish biodiversity for 11 Hudson tributaries and 2 mainstem sites, and a current study on the phenology of alewife migration in the Bronx River.

Presentation by:

• John Waldman, Ph.D., Professor, Queens College
• Elizabeth Alter, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, York College
• Sam Chin, York College

Register to attend >