Aquatic Invasive Species Projects
Invasive Carp Projects
We work to monitor invasive carp projects in the Upper Mississippi River and some of its tributaries.
We maintain an acoustic telemetry array in the Upper Mississippi River from Pools 5 to 20. This is part of a larger multi-agency array that extends from Minnesota to Missouri and includes portions of the Illinois and Ohio Rivers. Bighead and silver carp are tagged with trackable acoustic tags and their movements can be traced up and down the river system using this array. This allows biologist to analyze their movement patterns and pool-pool transitions. This information can then be useful in directing invasive carp removal efforts and advising the placement of potential invasive carp deterrents.
This technology uses sound waves to detect underwater fish targets and allows biologists to analyze the density and size structure of fish communities over a large area. Coupled with fish capture data, biologists hope to use hydroacoustics in the Upper Mississippi River to determine relative abundances and size structure of the invasive carp population in specific areas.
Contact Wes Bouska if you have any questions about this work.
Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar, which is a multi-beam sonar camera, is used to capture video-like underwater images. Biologists use this technology to monitor fish behavior, particularly in response to deterrents, such as underwater speakers or electric barriers, to help determine the effectiveness of such deterrents.
Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is species-specific DNA material from an organism that is shed or excreted into the environment. In the Upper Mississippi River and the Chicago Area Waterway System eDNA sampling is used in addition to other methods to monitor and detect emerging invasive carp populations. La Crosse Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office collects and preserves eDNA water samples in the field. The samples are then genetically processed by the Whitney Genetics Lab.
Contact our project lead: Jenna Bloomfield
