Detection of Environmental DNA of Bigheaded Carps in Samples Collected from Selected Locations in the St. Croix River and in the Mississippi River

The use of molecular methods, such as the detection of environmental deoxyribonucleic acid (eDNA), have become an increasingly popular tool in surveillance programs that monitor for the presence of invasive species in aquatic systems. One early application of these methods in aquatic systems was surveillance for DNA of Asian carps (specifically bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and silver carp H. molitrix) in water samples taken from the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS; Jerde et al. 2011). Analysis of water samples from the CAWS to detect DNA of Asian carps has since been integrated into the Asian carp monitoring program managed by the Monitoring and Response Work Group, an interagency group established by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is presently responsible for the analysis of DNA in samples taken from the CAWS and has led the development and refinement of the methods and procedures used to process environmental samples to detect Asian carp DNA. Those methods are specified within the USACE "Quality Assurance Project Plan" or QAPP (USACE 2012).