Gene-based environmental monitoring method gets development support

Fredericton, NB – The University of New Brunswick’s Canadian Rivers Institute is receiving $280,000 from the federal government to support its work on the development of new gene-based environmental monitoring method that is said to be more cost-effective and accurate than other observation techniques.

The new method was developed as a collaboration between Environment Canada, the Canadian Rivers Institute and the University of Guelph, supported by funds from Genome Canada.

This method will follow the protocols of the Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) and will focus on the water-quality monitoring area of the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring Program. CABIN training and certification will then enable any agency with a mandate in watershed science (for example, volunteers, First Nations, academics, consultants, industry, provincial/territorial departments) to collect consistent and credible ecosystem health data across Canada.

The benefit to the greater watershed science community will be the development of improved field methods, which could lead to substantial cost savings and reduce the turnaround time for biological data monitoring programs.