Prof. Euan Harvey1, Ms Sherralee Lukehurst1, Dr Fred Wells1, Dr Justin McDonald2
1Curtin University, Bentley, Australia, 2Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development , Hillaries, Australia
The eDGES (eDNA for Global Environment Studies) program funded by BHP’s Social Investment Framework. Program 4 aims to Improve the Sensitivity and Specificity of eDNA metabarcoding tools for Invasive Marine Species detection. It is developing reference validations for invasive marine species and native congeners from the North-West Shelf of Western Australia. Project 5 will sample benthic communities associated with port and harbour infrastructure and natural habitats in Port Hedland. It aims to describe spatial patterns in the distribution of benthic organisms associated with manmade structures across the shelf, and compare to natural habitats (reefs, sponge gardens and sand habitats).
Biography:
Euan Harvey is a Professor of marine Science at Curtin University. He is interested in the fish ecology and uses a range of tools including stereo-BRUVs, stereo-DOVs, stereo-ROVs and eDNA for sampling them. He is the leader of EDGES projects 4 and 5.