Our lab is deeply involved with ecological monitoring in Grand Canyon through partnership with National Parks Service and the USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. The collaboration began with a focus on invertebrate monitoring supporting the Bug Flows management proposal aiming to boost aquatic macroinvertebrate recruitment in disturbed sections of the Colorado. We've performed traditional D-net sampling along the river and up tributaries, as well as developing eDNA surveys as a method of monitoring swathes of invertebrate taxa with simple water samples.

We are currently expanding our use of eDNA and metabarcoding methods to monitor fish health and invasive species, with the eventual goal of developing a molecular toolkit that can be applied to assess river health across a broad variety of ecosystems.