Tag Archives: environmental DNA

Bridges and Structures, Environment, research

CTS Webinar: Species from Feces—A New Tool to Identify Bats in Culverts and on Bridges

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Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 12:00–1:30 pm, Virtual

About the Webinar

Bats frequently use bridges and culverts as roosting habitat, creating challenges for transportation agencies working to balance infrastructure needs with environmental compliance. Traditional visual surveys can be limited, especially when bats are hidden within structures or present only intermittently. 

This webinar will highlight ongoing research exploring the use of DNA analysis from bat feces (guano) as a noninvasive method to identify bat species occupying culverts and bridges. Speaker Ron Moen will discuss how this approach works, share early findings from field applications, and explore how the results could support more efficient environmental review, project planning, and species protection efforts for transportation agencies.

It is being held in conjunction with a CTS Environment and Energy in Transportation Council meeting.

Speaker

Ron Moen is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth and a senior research associate with the Natural Resources Research Institute’s Center for Water and the Environment. His research focuses on mammalian ecology, including habitat use, movement patterns, and predator–prey interactions, often using GPS radiotelemetry. His current work includes studies on moose, Canada lynx, American marten, wood turtles, bats, and other wildlife, as well as projects related to climate change impacts and carnivore monitoring in the Upper Midwest.

Registration

This webinar is free, but registration is required. Once you have registered, you will receive an email confirmation with a Zoom link. The link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.

Register

Follow the Research

Species From Feces: A New Tool to Identify Bats in Culverts and on Bridges

Environment

Detecting Endangered Turtles with Environmental DNA

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More than 60% of the world’s turtle species are endangered, including Blanding’s and wood turtles, which are native to Minnesota and may be found in the state’s wetlands, ponds, lakes and streams. To protect these vulnerable populations and their habitats, a cost-effective tool developed in this study will efficiently allow for the early detection of these turtles at transportation project sites. 

Continue reading Detecting Endangered Turtles with Environmental DNA →
Environment

New Project: Assessing a New Tool for Early Detection of Endangered Turtles on Proposed Transportation Projects

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As turtle populations decline worldwide, increased protections (e.g. United States Endangered Species Act) yield increased regulatory burdens. As a consequence, monitoring of imperiled turtle species is imperative to understand both their extant distributions, but also to ensure regulatory compliance.

However, conventional methods for surveying turtles are frequently costly, time consuming, require taxonomic expertise, and unlikely to yield detections without repeated visits. And these burdens are exacerbated when sampling rare, threatened, or endangered (RTE) species. In these instances, innovative technological advances may overcome these limitations, ultimately streamlining monitoring.

Continue reading New Project: Assessing a New Tool for Early Detection of Endangered Turtles on Proposed Transportation Projects →