Researchers launch drones, send sniffer dogs to detect invasive species

Dogs, drones and DNA testing are emerging as new tools to detect invasive species and keep them from becoming entrenched in B.C.

The new tactics were described by experts Tuesday at a conference of the Invasive Species Council of B.C. in Richmond.

Cindy Sawchuk, a dog handler with Alberta Environment and Parks, told about 150 people at an Invasive Species Council of B.C. conference Tuesday in Richmond that her province has three dogs trained to sniff out invasive mussels on boats.

The dogs mainly work at watercraft inspection stations along the eastern border closest to Manitoba, where invasive mussels have been detected, and along southern borders to check Canadian snowbirds returning from warm southerly retreats.

Faster and more efficient than human inspectors, the dogs are able to detect the scent from an invasive mussel smaller than a grain of rice, she said. The dogs are even fitted with booties so they don’t scratch paint jobs.

The inspection stations have conducted about 21,500 boat inspections, of which 11 carried invasive mussels — more than half of them headed for B.C.

Canada’s federal fisheries department is also getting on board with more sophisticated detection methods, said Davon Callander, who works at its Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C.

She said that invasive species can now be detected in environmental DNA, which is found abundantly in any ecosystem.

“It really is as easy as going out and getting a litre of water,” she said, explaining how the samples are filtered for the “eDNA,” which is then amplified, sequenced and matched to species’ barcodes.

“Times are changing.”

Agencies/Canadajournal