Tommy is currently emplyed as the eDNA Program Coordinator at the National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation with the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, MT.
Traditional survey methods for rare benthic organisms are expensive, time consuming, labor intensive and can be dangerous to the researchers and stressful to the target animals. Using environmental DNA (eDNA) is a non-invasive survey method that is an increasingly popular alternative for detecting rare aquatic species. Sampling via eDNA involves filtering water and using molecular techniques to isolate DNA to detect and quantify the abundance of a target species. Previous studies have demonstrated eDNA to be particularly useful for detecting the presence of the elusive Eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis). Hellbenders are currently experiencing rapid, range-wide population declines and deserve the utmost conservation status and research. Our objectives are to incorporate eDNA into occupancy models to quantify the presence and detectability of hellbenders. We will collect eDNA via water samples, and, at the same locations, conduct exhaustive traditional hellbender surveys (i.e. snorkeling, rock-turning) and characterize habitat so that we can analyze the data using an occupancy modeling approach. We will target 30 sites in the Upper New River Drainage in North Carolina and sample each site three times from May – August 2015. By complementing traditional survey approaches with an eDNA approach to estimate occupancy, other researchers and conservation biologists can employ more time and cost effective methods to long-term hellbender monitoring programs.