Institute: Minnesota
USGS Grant Number:
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-12-16 End Date: 2026-12-15
Total Federal Funds: $155,784 Total Non-Federal Funds: $155,784
Principal Investigators: Satoshi Ishii
Project Summary: The overall goal of this project is to develop guidelines to help aquatic invasive species managers decide the best environmental DNA (eDNA) method to rapidly, reliably, and cost-effectively monitor the species of interest. We will first establish standard reference materials for quality assurance and quality control purposes by collecting tissue samples of target aquatic invasive species. We will then collect water samples from areas with and without infestations of the target aquatic invasive species in the upper Mississippi River watershed. These standard reference materials and water samples will be used to compare multiple eDNA methods for their speed, sensitivity, specificity, cost, and throughput. Based on the results, we will develop guidelines for method selection that we will disseminate via seminars/webinars and an in-person workshop.