Decades of DNA in the Ocean Depths Could Help Track Fish Populations

[agentaqua]

Decades of DNA in the Ocean Depths Could Help Track Fish Populations | Hakai Magazine

Estimates of historical populations, reconstructed from ancient DNA, align with shifts in fisheries catch data.

www.hakaimagazine.com

Sedimentary DNA tracks decadal-centennial changes in fish abundance - Communications Biology

Michinobu Kuwae et al. reconstruct the past dynamics of pelagic fish abundance in Beppu Bay of Japan, using sedimentary DNA. This study demonstrates the utility of sedimentary DNA in investigating the history of fish abundance in marine waters.

www.nature.com

 

[wildmanyeah]

interesting thanks for sharing it just shows that some of these trends and time scales of fluctuations are really long often longer that what we humans can perceive.

"The scientists focused their attention on three common species—Japanese anchovy, Japanese sardine, and jack mackerel—over a period of 300 years. They found changes in population sizes over time—for instance, the population of sardines had distinct peaks around 1850 and 1980."

 

[searun]

Wouldn't that research approach make for some interesting widening of our understanding of salmon cycles.