Canada's National Marine Fish and Invertebrate Reference DNA Sequence Repository

Funding period: 2023-2025

Lead: Kristen Westfall

Total GRDI funding: $90,200

Biodiversity monitoring is a core tenet of conservation management and Canada's conservation commitments. Canada has established a series of 'best-practice' guidelines for MPAs that emphasize the need for non-destructive, multi-species survey methods. Environmental (e)DNA metabarcoding is revolutionizing the field of biomonitoring. Multiple studies conducted in Canada indicate it is a viable non-destructive alternative for biodiversity monitoring in MPAs.

This project will build a National Marine Fish and Invertebrate Reference DNA Sequence Repository by establishing 2 essential foundational elements: (1) a permanent web-based repository of DNA reference sequences, and (2) a set of guidelines that establish minimum reporting standards for reference sequences, a submission template for the repository, and an automated reproducible bioinformatic pipeline to ensure FAIR data principles. The repository will be populated with 300 mitogenome reference sequences from high priority species, which will have an immediate impact on multiple DFO programs.