Using Enviromental DNA to Detect and Quantify Atlantic Silversides in Rhode Island

Owen Finnegan ’25, Environmental Biology major Faculty mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Markert, Biology Here we test whether eDNA concentrations consistently reflect the abundance of fish in a given area. We compare physical catches to the levels of eDNA in the water using quantitative PCR (qPCR) at three sites in Rhode Island. A native and plentiful species like Atlantic Silversides is the perfect organism to for calibrating our methods as recorded catches of Atlantic Silversides from our collections range from 0-1500+ individuals.