British Columbia encompasses 29,000 kilometers of coastline, with much of its biodiversity largely unexplored. Hakai researchers use environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling as an efficient, non-invasive approach to biodiversity monitoring, but they can only cover so much ground—or water—on their own.
Enter Hakai Insititute’s Integrated Coastal Observatory (ICO), which engages a partner network of citizen scientists, First Nations communities, and various research organizations to collect monthly eDNA samples. Once processed at the Hakai Institute’s Quadra Island lab, the samples help to map fish biodiversity in nearshore habitats along BC’s coastal margin.
How does it work? ICO project manager Sue Velazquez developed a low-tech eDNA sampling kit that can easily be shipped to partners to collect samples. ICO partners are trained in person or via an eDNA sampling kit training video produced by Hakai. Partners receive their kits monthly, collect samples, and send them back to Quadra Island to be processed.
Curious about what happens to the samples once they make it back to our lab? ICO partners were too, so the Hakai team made a video to describe what happens behind the scenes of ICO.
“We’re very grateful to our partners for their commitment and huge contribution to this project,” says Velazquez. “Together we’re helping to transform our understanding of fish biodiversity across BC’s nearshore marine environment.”
Hakai researchers share the data from these samples back with our partners so that it can be used for local conservation and stewardship efforts. ICO has processed almost 2,300 samples since it began in 2019, and the samples keep coming in. Learn more about ICO and explore the data yourself at https://ico.hakai.org.
