The Gloucester Environment Group was invited to attend a recent Environmental DNA (or eDNA) workshop held at Knorrit Flat Riverside Retreat on the banks of the Nowendoc River.
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The workshop, organised by the Manning River Turtle Group and MidCoast Council, in partnership with Charles Sturt University and the University of Canberra, was supported by a federal government National Science Week grant.
eDNA can be used to survey species throughout the year and can be very useful in conservation monitoring.
This new investigative technique recognises the unique hallmark DNA of each vertebrate animal that has recently shed skin or other tissue into soil, water, sediments or air.
Workshop attendees learned from scientists how to take river water samples which can be analysed for the presence of the DNA of vertebrates.
Screening river water can detect the presence of endangered river species such as the Manning River turtle and the platypus, and also terrestrial animals such as birds, bats, and marsupials which come to the river to drink or have dropped scats nearby which have washed into the river.
Screening river water can detect the presence of endangered river species such as the Manning River turtle and the platypus
GEG members Candice Skelton and Terry Hardwick, and Peter Maddox, who represented National Parks and Wildlife Service, will screen the near pristine water of Copeland Creek hoping to discover the presence of the endangered stuttering frog and koalas. Terry will also test the Upper Avon River hoping to find evidence of platypus.
Pippa and Steve Robinson, representing GEG, will compare the Gloucester River below and above Gloucester township for evidence of any impact of pollution on river life.
Rob and Cherie Mellor hope to detect platypus and koala and lots more in their stretch of the Bowman River.
About a dozen MidCoast groups, including primary and high schools, TIDE, Landcare, Scouts, U3A, OzFish, NPWS and Oxygen Farm had representatives at the workshop, so various sections of the huge Manning River catchment will be investigated to discover what species are present in our rivers.
We have two weeks to do the sampling which involves passing river water through a special filter.
The samples are sent to a laboratory for the specialised analysis.
Results will be released during Science Week in August 2022.