Re-Thinking Salmon Counts: Research Uses Environmental DNA to Fill Monitoring Gaps in Alaskan Salmon Runs
A team of researchers working on a project funded by the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (Alaska CASC), in collaboration with the USGS Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, is testing a new tool for tracking Chinook and chum salmon runs with greater reliability and resilience to high streamflow events.
With climate change and extreme weather complicating traditional salmon monitoring efforts, researchers funded by the U.S. Geological Survey are testing environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling techniques to bolster salmon monitoring and management in the Yukon River.
A team of researchers working on a project funded by the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (Alaska CASC), in collaboration with the USGS Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, is testing a new tool for tracking Chinook and chum salmon runs with greater reliability and resilience to high streamflow events.
The research is led by Jeff Falke, Erik Schoen and Andrés Lopéz. Falke is Unit Leader of the Nevada Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Nevada, Reno (previously of the Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit). Schoen and Lopéz are both faculty members at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.