UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Fowler, ChelseaSubject: search.filters.subject.environmental DNA

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    Investigating the Utility of Environmental DNA Analysis for the Monitoring and Management of Mid-Atlantic Alosine Fishes
    (2023) Fowler, Chelsea; Plough, Louis V; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Environmental DNA (eDNA) tools can address gaps in fish assessment data while reducing the cost and the impact of sampling on threatened anadromous alosine fishes in Chesapeake Bay. Here, I tested the ability of high-frequency eDNA sampling of river herring to predict fish abundances from sonar-based fish counts on the Choptank River and developed and validated novel species-specific eDNA assays for American and hickory shads. River herring eDNA concentrations from daily eDNA sampling were highly correlated to sonar-based fish counts (Spearman’s Rho = 0.84). This relationship informed a model that could accurately predict fish count from eDNA and relevant covariates (R2 = 0.88). The two new shad assays are highly specific and quantitative, and field testing validated detections in Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina. This work provides a set of eDNA monitoring tools for the Mid-Atlantic alosines and highlights the capacity for eDNA data to generate quantitative metrics of fish abundance.