2015 Quality Assurance Project Plan for the eDNA Monitoring of Bighead and Silver Carp

USFWS Midwest Region requires a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for eDNA monitoring. Full-scale eDNA monitoring commenced in September 2010 by the USACE, and based on consultation with experts in processing of litigable DNA evidence (which applies to eDNA monitoring), a final, comprehensive QAPP was not in place within that time frame. Instead a provisional QAPP was used during the first year of eDNA monitoring, to be followed later by a finalized version under a different scope of work. The USFWS will continue to maintain and update a QAPP for use in eDNA monitoring programs that allows for inclusion of any beneficial technical or strategic modifications that become apparent from past monitoring events, research conducted by the eDNA calibration research team, or research published in the literature and vetted by the eDNA calibration team or other USFWS genetics laboratories.