Scientists have now developed a highly advanced tool to monitor ocean life, allowing them to monitor species “without ever seeing them.”<\/p>\n
Thanks to the work of researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, scientists can now use a novel technology they call<\/a> “rapid environmental DNA (eDNA) detection.”<\/p>\n That new tool could help scientists better protect wildlife and the coastal ecosystems many communities depend on.<\/p>\n What happened?<\/p>\n After sunflower sea stars suffered a broad population collapse due to sea star wasting disease spread during the 2013-2016 Pacific marine heat wave, known as<\/a> “the Blob,” scientists needed more tools to monitor the species.<\/p>\n To address the issue, rather than relying only on diver sightings, researchers at NOAA<\/a>‘s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory developed this rapid eDNA method for monitoring the sunflower sea stars.<\/p>\n The detection method searches seawater for genetic traces left by the sea star species, which is now so rare that traditional dive surveys often miss it entirely, according to NOAA<\/a>.<\/p>\n NOAA<\/a> added that the new method can pick up DNA fragments in just one liter of seawater, return results within a day, and help guide divers toward follow-up searches.<\/p>\n In one recent case, according to the agency, an eDNA hit in Northern California’s Noyo Bay helped divers find a juvenile sea star roughly the size of a teacup.<\/p>\n Why does it matter?<\/p>\n Sea urchins can strip underwater forests when nothing keeps their numbers in check, and sunflower sea stars are among the predators that help prevent that.<\/p>\n But when those predator populations collapse, urchin numbers can surge, turning thriving kelp habitat into barren areas and making recovery far more difficult.<\/p>\n The effects reach well beyond marine biology. Kelp forests support fish populations and commercial fisheries, provide habitat for hundreds of species, and help filter nutrient pollution.<\/p>\n The eDNA method is also far less expensive and more efficient than relying solely on divers, especially in deeper waters or locations that are difficult to access.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists have now developed a highly advanced tool to monitor ocean life, allowing them to monitor species “without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,36754,4944,273133,66,32577,32578],"class_list":["post-768677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration","tag-noaa","tag-pacific-marine-environmental-laboratory","tag-science","tag-sea-star-wasting-disease","tag-sea-stars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}