David Keller, Fisheries Section Lead at the Academy’s Patrick Center for Environmental Research, and his team are working to save the Ironcolor Shiner, a native fish once widespread and now endangered.

Because these tiny fish live in dense, vegetated waters, which makes them hard to track, Fisheries is using environmental DNA (eDNA), a cutting-edge technique at the forefront of environmental science, to look for trace amounts of DNA in water to detect the fish and identify areas for conservation and reintroduction.

Thanks to this work, a species moving toward extinction can be saved from the brink. But the Academy needs your support to sustain this critical research.

At a critical time for nature, make a gift to the Academy of Natural Sciences that will support science to save species and protect our environment for future generations.

For assistance making a gift, please contact Amy Eno, associate director of individual giving, at eno@ansp.org.