Wetland Genomics Project
Categories: DNA
Status: In Progress
About the Project
Advances in the field of environmental genomics offer some exciting new opportunities for the future of biodiversity monitoring. In collaboration with InnoTech Alberta and Ducks Unlimited Canada, the ABMI successfully led a funding proposal to the Alberta Innovates Water Innovation Program in 2022/23 to examine the effects of agriculture and climate change on aquatic invertebrates and waterfowl in prairie pothole wetlands.
Fieldwork was initiated this spring, and over the next four years this project will help to expand the ABMI’s understanding of the cumulative effects of intensive agriculture and climate change in aquatic ecosystems while expanding the use of new techniques in environmental genomics to support large-scale monitoring of aquatic invertebrates and plants.
A wetland ecosystem in a parkland ecosystem
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In the spring of 2020, the ABMI initiated a pilot project with Innotech Alberta to explore the effectiveness of environmental DNA (eDNA) technology for monitoring amphibians in wetland habitats.
Led by Alberta Environment and Parks and the Grande Cache Trails Working Group, this project’s goal is to collect information on recreational use and wildlife in the Willmore Wilderness Park and nearby public lands.
Citizen Science involves research collaborations between scientists and members of the general public, with the goal of expanding opportunities for data collection and improving access to data for community members.
