Research & Sponsored Programs Report ResearchAnnual201819-electronic | Page 18

Dr. Alexis Janosik
UWF professor using environmental DNA
to inventory fish communities in Gulf
Dr. Alexis Janosik has used the science of en-
vironmental DNA to find the extremely rare
Alabama sturgeon and to provide evidence that
invasive lionfish have moved into the mouths of
local river systems.
With her latest research, Janosik, an assistant
professor in the Department of Biology at the
University of West Florida, is using environmental
DNA to take an inventory of fish species found
near reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.
The project is funded by a $40,000 grant
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and Red Snapper Congressional
Supplemental Appropriations. Janosik’s work is
part of a multi-faceted study by NOAA, in collab-
oration with Dr. Matt Campbell, NOAA Research
Fisheries Biologist, which uses a variety of
methods to catalog reef fish communities. Those
other techniques include using underwater cam-
eras, trawling and longline fishing.
Janosik is working on her part of the project with
Dr. Tina Whitaker, a post-doctoral research as-
sociate at UWF. Whitaker’s position was funded
both by the grant from NOAA and from the Hal
Marcus College of Science and Engineering.
As part of the study, Campbell, Janosik and her
Dr. Tina Whitaker extracts DNA from water samples
taken from the Alabama River.
18
We basically spent
the whole summer
extracting DNA
around the clock.
2018-2019 Research Annual Report