Beware the invader (Image: TravisHeyling/The Wichita Eagle/AP)
ENVIRONMENTAL DNA evidence is being rolled out on a grand scale in the US to track invasive species, but the nation’s legal system is lagging.
In mid-2010, of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana found DNA from invasive Asian carp in water samples taken from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. It suggested the fish were beyond an electric barrier meant to stop them reaching the Great Lakes ().
Yet in December that locks on the canal need not be closed, stating that .
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The disagrees. As part of a programme to spot invasive species in the Great Lakes “we will use environmental DNA with traditional techniques”, says project manager Michael Hoff. “It is very sensitive.”
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