Aquaculture Canada and WAS North America 2022

August 15 - 18, 2022

St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada

MOLECULE TO ECOSYSTEM: ENVIRONMENTAL DNA AS NEXUS OF COASTAL ECOSYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY FOR MAINE

David Emerson1*, Mike Kinnison2, Kate Beard2, Heather Leslie2,3 , and Kody Varahramyan2

 

1 Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; 2 University of Maine, Orono; 3Darling Marine Center

 



 In 2019 the National Science Foundation in the US funded a major research, education, and outreach program  focused on the development of eDNA science as a means  to aid coastal ecosystem monitoring in the state of Maine . The  Maine eDNA project has three research themes: 1) Sustainable Fisheries, focused on alewife ecology and restoration, and ‘the larval black box’ --  revealing early life ecology of larval of mussels, scallops, and kelp; 2) Harmful and Shifting Species, focused on identifying community and biogeochemical processes associated with harmful marine and freshwater algal blooms, and monitoring of range changes of kelp beds and associated ecological impacts along the Maine Coast. The third theme, Macrosystem eDNA Integration, includes a large, systematic eDNA water sampling effort spanning several nearshore coastal to inland freshwater ecosystems; evaluating the role  of  microbes in blue carbon sequestration from kelp aquaculture, and a science of team science component focused on communication factors related to this large transdisciplinary science project. Maine eDNA includes a large educational component focused around a newly recruited cohort of graduate students, undergraduates, and postdocs, as well as K-12 outreach programs. Additionally, there is substantial engagement with local state agencies responsible for marine and freshwater fisheries, and coastal management, as well as conservation organizations interested in water quality issues, and professional aquaculture growers concerned about resource sustainability. Some highlights from this effort, thus far, are development and validation of numerous eDNA assays for coastal marine and freshwater species , including those of interest to aquaculturists , bioinformatic pipelines for unified assessing of metabarcoding data, and  hosting a workshop on the ethics of eDNA. In terms of new partnerships,  a new graduate eDNA course integrated student projects directly with partners, both for-profit and non-profit, that can benefit from eDNA science; the Maine eDNA project has also led efforts to develop biocultural labels with Wabanaki Tribal Nations related to eDNA documentation in native ancestral lands, among other activities. This presentation will provide an overview of these topics, with an emphasis on those related to aquaculture, in hopes that we can share lessons learned, as well as expand partnerships with the goal of further developing eDNA science to integrate across scientific disciplines, and aid in the sustainable management of coa stal ecosystems.