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Inaugural ‘Fintastic’ Science Blog Award

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 3/13/24: Congratulations to Doug Carlson for receiving the inaugural, ‘Fintastic’ Science Blog Contribution Award at the NYCAFS 2024 annual meeting. Doug has been a strong supporter of the Science Blog since its inception in 2015. Going forward, the author of the Science Blog post with the most views in the... Read More

Piloting the Future of eDNA Sampling in New York

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 8/29/23: During June and July 2023, the USGS New York Water Science Center partnered with Smith-Root and the USGS READI-Net Program to pilot the use of a new prototype robotic eDNA sampler. This robot was installed inside the USGS streamgage at the Hudson River in Troy, NY. The robotic sampler... Read More

Northern Sunfish recovery efforts on Tonawanda Creek

Contributed by Doug Carlson and Jim Haynes, Posted 8/3/23: Studies of Northern Sunfish (Lepomis peltastes), a Threatened Species in New York, in waters near Buffalo were most active from 2004-2014. An encompassing reporta of the findings was published by Dr. Jim Haynes (SUNY Brockport) and coauthors, and it concluded that this fish had become extirpated... Read More

Grass Carp Response Program

Contributed by Touhue Yang, Posted 5/1/23: In the 2022 field season, the US Fish and Wildlife Service kickstarted their new Grass Carp Response Program in collaboration with the University at Buffalo and conducted their first fish surveys in eastern Lake Erie. Surveys consisted of electrofishing and netting at locations where grass carp were historically caught... Read More

Fishes of Northern New York and the Adirondacks

Contributed by Doug Carlson, Posted 12/9/22: Doug Carlson, retired DEC biologist and research associate at SUNY Potsdam, has just released a monograph published by Northeastern Naturalist, titled “Fishes of Northern New York and the Adirondacks.” The 46-page illustrated booklet is a complete guide to the fish species in the region, based on Carlson’s years of research, as a... Read More

NY Lake Sturgeon Group Holds Meeting

Contributed by Tom Brooking, Posted 11/10/22: A group of NYS sturgeon researchers held a very informative workshop on October 18, 2022 at the Cornell University Biological Field Station on Oneida Lake, NY. The meeting was organized by Scott Schlueter from the USFWS and Lisa Holst from NYS DEC Central Office. About 30 researchers attended the workshop,... Read More

Rainbow Darter reach the Hudson River

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 11/7/22: Rainbow Darter were captured in the Hudson River for the first time during a Round Goby survey conducted on October, 17, 2022 a short distance upstream of the Federal Dam in Troy. The native range of Rainbow Darter is believed to only extend as far east as Rochester, but... Read More

Bowfin Split into Two Species

Contributed by Jeremy Wright, Posted 11/1/22: Researchers at the New York State Museum and SUNY-ESF have recently published a journal article that demonstrates the existence of at least two species of living Bowfin, which have been widely accepted to represent only a single, widespread species for over 125 years. Using genomic data in conjunction with... Read More

Evidence of Lake Trout Reproduction in Lake Erie

Contributed by Scott George, Posted 10/31/22: Natural reproduction of lake trout was recently documented in Lake Erie for the first time since the species was extirpated in the 1960s. Researchers from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other organizations published a journal article earlier this month documenting this important milestone for lake... Read More

Successful Mussel Identification Workshop

Contributed by Eileen Randall and Jim Daly, Posted 9/20/22: The New York Chapter hosted a New York mussel identification workshop at the DEC Region 8 headquarters in Avon, NY on August 29 and 30. Twenty-four individuals turned out for the workshop led by Amy Mahar (DEC), Jenny Landry (DEC), Kurt Jirka (Cornell), and Eileen Randall... Read More