About this Project

Sub-arctic environments are experiencing swift physical and biological changes, including freshening from increased glacier and riverine runoff and increased temperatures from both longer-term global climate change and shorter-term heat waves. Compounding these challenges, researchers, practitioners, and community organizations are spread thin over long ranges of coastline, which reinforces the need for more collaborative efforts that include novel techniques for environmental monitoring, remote sensing, and community monitoring. This project addressed a key regional management need through a multifaceted approach that involved training graduate students and staff from KBNERR and University of Alaska Anchorage on the workflow of environmental DNA (eDNA) collection, organizing a workshop for eDNA researchers to share their work, and providing community members with opportunities for active participation in eDNA collection.

About this Resource

This resource contains workshop proceedings and education materials used during project workshops.

“Engage the Community” workshop proceedings

Held at the University Of Alaska Anchorage, this workshop introduced eDNA to a diverse audience, held hands-on demonstrations, provided a panel of experts working in the field on various projects, a discussion on data sovereignty and best research practices, and provided additional relationship building with a field visit for water samples that could be used for eDNA.

Sequence activity and GenBank sequence

Intended for researchers and scientists working in communities, This activity was based on Heʻeia NERR’s workshop on eDNA but was altered to include Alaska-specific species, providing a resource for the project’s Alaska partners and audiences. This activity would be useful in a classroom setting for grade school age children to adults.