Mr Adam Harman1
1Stantec, Paddington, Australia
Imagine having the ability to detect rare and invasive species in the field, in real-time, without even seeing them, no matter where you are? Stantec’s collaborative Proof-of-Concept Study has now made that a reality! Our Point-of-Need Tool (PoNtool) has started revolutionising the way we detect and monitor species using Environmental DNA (eDNA), especially in aquatic habitats.
eDNA is the genetic material released by organisms into the habitat they occupy, through natural processes such as spawning, excretion and shedding. The current, traditional approach to detecting and monitoring species using eDNA involved collecting samples and analysing them at a specialised lab away from the field, which often takes days or even months depending on the remoteness of the test location.
The newly developed PoNtool has revolutionised this process by bringing the lab to the field to detect species effectively and reliably in-situ in under two hours. In this talk, we will discuss our collaborative study, which validates sensitivity and specificity of the PoNtool to detect eDNA of the invasive Redclaw crayfish in one of Australia’s’ harshest environments – the Pilbara region. We compare real-time PoNtool results against conventional laboratory eDNA techniques, using traditional trapping methods to confirm Redclaw presence-absence.
While some roadblocks to broad-scale implementation of real-time eDNA remain, there are exciting future potentials for the PoNtool for routine monitoring and surveillance use in aquatic environments across Australia.
Biography:
Adam is a Principal Environmental Scientist at Stantec and a passionate aquatic ecologist with a strong interest in the conservation and management of Inland Waters. This includes the educational and awareness challenges of aquatic invasive species. With 15 years of field experience in northern Australia and several parts of Papua New Guinea, he is skilled in conventional field techniques to detect aquatic species. He has a keen interest in novel detection techniques which are non-invasive, time and cost efficient, reduce health and safety risks in the field, and with potential to inform studies which involve conventional sampling techniques.