Tiny Ocean Life Helps Scientists Estimate the Prevalence of Whales Off California: eDNA technology improves view of marine ecosystems

A new study co-led by CalCOFI researchers, including Erin Satterthwaite, demonstrates how environmental DNA (eDNA) and microbial community data collected through the CalCOFI program can improve predictions of baleen whale density in the California Current Ecosystem. Using CalCOFI observations and samples collected from 2014–2020, the study found that microscopic ocean life can provide important ecological habitat information linked to whales. This improved prediction accuracy beyond traditional oceanographic approaches. This work highlights the growing value of CalCOFI’s long-term ecosystem observations and emerging genomic tools for understanding and managing marine ecosystems. Read the Scripps press release here: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/tiny-ocean-life-helps-scientists-estimate-prevalence-whales-california and the paper, Microbial and small zooplankton communities predict density of baleen whales in the southern California Current Ecosystem here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0334209