Document Type
Podcast
Run Time
00:32:57
Release Date
10-24-2019
Episode Description
From streams and ponds to the Gulf of Maine, water defines the state of Maine in many ways. For thousands of years, counting or harvesting the plants and animals in those bodies of water has been pretty low-tech, usually involving nets of some sort. Now a new technology can do this counting using DNA and this tool will revolutionize and expand how this work is done. Beyond that it will allow the public, school groups, coastal residents and others to contribute as citizen scientists and it will enhance Maine’s workforce and promote high-tech jobs as well. Michael Kinnison, a professor of evolutionary applications at UMaine speaks with us about the potential for Maine eDNA. Dr. Michael Kinnison is Professor of Evolutionary Applications at the University of Maine. He grew up in New Hampshire and obtained his BS in Marine and Freshwater Biology from the University of New Hampshire in 1993. He received his MS (1997) and later a PhD (1999) from the University of Washington studying the evolution of Chinook salmon populations historically introduced to New Zealand in the early 1900s. After graduating he became the first Croasdale Fellow in Vertebrate Biology at Dartmouth College and joined the faculty of the University of Maine in 2002.