Aquatic Invasive Species

An examination of the field work done by a volunteer-based monitoring program  in tracking and identifying an aquatic invasive species showed that the program’s methods were successful in detecting the species most of the time.

Stephanie A. Boudreau and Norman M. Yan of the Department of Biology at York University in Toronto, Canada audited the methods of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters’s program for the tracking of the invasive water flea, Bythotrephes longimanus. They found that the O.F.A.H.’s protocols for volunteer detection of Bythotrephes were 100% accurate in Harp Lake and incorrect only 14% of the time at the other sampled body of water,  Sugar Lake.

From the results of the study, Boudreau and Yan concluded that the O.F.A.H. volunteers produced authentic, definitive results and demonstrated that the citizen help and participation in the detection of this invasive water flea are in fact beneficial.

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 91: 17–26, 2004.