To support the surveillance of key macroalgae and non-indigenous species in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, five quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were designed and tested at 111 sites in 2022-2023 targeting the following non-indigenous macroalgal species: Antithamnion sparsum, Bonnemaisonia hamifera, Codium fragile, Dasysiphonia japonica, Fucus serratus. All assays were developed in 2022 by the Center for Environmental Genomics Applications (CEGA, Newfoundland, Canada) except Antithamnion sparsum, for which an assay was developed in 2023 by the Aquatic Biotechnology Laboratory (ABL) at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. All amplification was performed by the ABL in 2022-2023. The assay developed for Fucus serratus was later determined to be non-specific, and amplifies both F. serratus and Fucus distichus.

Cite this data as: Krumhansl K, Brooks C, Lowen B, DiBacco C, (2025). Quantitative PCR (qPCR) of Key Macroalgal Non-Indigenous Species in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Waters. Version 1.5. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.iobis.org/obiscanada/resource?r=quantitative_qpcr_macroalgal_nonindigenous_species_novascotia_newbrunswick_2022_2023&v=1.5

For additional information please see:

LeBlanc F., Belliveau V., Watson E., Coomber C., Simard N., DiBacco C., Bernier R., Gagné N. 2020. Environment DNA (eDNA) detection of marine aquatic invasive species (AIS) in Eastern Canada using a targeted species-specific qPCR approach. Management of Biological Invasions 11(2):201-217

Krumhansl K.A., Brooks C.M., Lowen B., O’Brien J., Wong M., DiBacco C. Loss, resilience and recovery of kelp forests in a region of rapid ocean warming. Annals of Botany 2024 Mar 8; 133(1):73-92

Brooks C.M., Krumhansl K.A. 2023. First record of the Asian Antithamnion sparsum Tokida, 1932 (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) in Nova Scotia, Canada. BioInvasions Records 12(3):745-725.