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

Lauren Sutton (Kachemak Bay NERR/University of Alaska), Syverine Bentz (Kachemak Bay NERR/University of Alaska), and Debbie Tobin (Kenai Peninsula College/University of Alaska) give a short introduction to "Explorations, Demonstrations and Novel Applications for Environmental DNA in Kachemak Bay," a science transfer project funded in 2023 by the NERRS Science Collaborative.