Abalone Research along the California Coast

In collaboration with National Park Service (NPS) and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boz Institute is implementing eDNA methodology to investigate the distribution of endangered black and white abalone populations along the Southern California Coast.  Recently in May 2022, after establishing positive lab eDNA controls, Boz and NPS researchers and students collected eDNA samples from Channel Islands, CA  in areas known to have  abalone cluster populations.  The purpose of this phase of the study is to establish field positive controls and test the methods’ sensitivity to distinguish white from black abalone wild populations, before sampling more challenging sites with historically populated but currently unknown abalone distribution.