Themolecularstation.com Website Review

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Scientists in Maine are using DNA to try to preserve the remaining populations of a fish that lives in 14 lakes and ponds in the state and nowhere else in the continental United States. The scientists are turning their eye to the Arctic charr, which is a species of landlocked fish in Maine that has lived in the state for millennia and is prized by anglers. The charr face threats such as invasive predators and a warming climate. They are also notoriously Michael Kinnison, a professor of evolutionary applications at University of Maine, and other scientists are working with the state to make sure the fish keep surviving. Kinnison is working on a project to collect “environmental DNA” from the water bodies where the The project involves collecting water samples from the lakes and ponds where the fish are known to live, and studying DNA that they and other organisms shed, Kinnison said. It’ll provide vital information scientists can use to keep charr populations stable, he said. It’s also a much less invasive and time-consuming way than older methods, such as using nets, Kinnison said. “If your only tool to count a species is a gillnet, and there’s not many, do you make the tough choice to risk killing the individuals to find them?” he said. “It’s a way to get an idea of where organisms are located and do it in a way that presents really no Arctic charr live at the top of the world, including in northern Canada and Alaska. They’re known to seafood lovers because they’re fa*med for use as food. But to find one in the lower 48 states, an angler can only go to one of a group of remote, rural ponds and lakes The project to collect their DNA in Maine launched in 2017, and is expected to continue through this summer, said Brad Erdman, a University of Maine ecology graduate student who is working on it. A local chapter of Trout Unlimited, an environmental nonprofit, is working on the project using grant money provided by the organization’s Embrace-A-Stream fund.