Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our goal!

Jun 27, 2023

Thank you to everyone who helped us reach our goal! We reached our goal of $13,550 and then we kept that momentum going until the project hit 107%! I want to thank everyone who donated to my project and who shared the campaign. I would not be able to do this research without your help and I am eternally grateful. 
With that I also wanted to update everyone on where we are currently at with the project! We recently received a new batch of stomachs and will start the collecting samples over the next few weeks. I will post another update with a walk through of our stomach content analysis and sampling process for those that are interested. We will soon be sending the eDNA samples off for processing and once we do we will being the fatty acid portion of this project. I am excited for these upcoming steps and what we will find! 

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Judith C. BautchBacker

Thanks, Reilly for the update. I will look forward to a progress report. Audrey, a High School Senior who lives across the street wants to attend Oregon State and study Marine Biology. I will share your info with her. Good luck on your study Judy Bautch

Jun 28, 20230

About This Project

Deep diving into shark stomachs: new methods of identifying prey

Oregon State University

How significant an impact do keystone shark species have on fisheries? We’re still in the dark because we don’t really know their diets. By using precise eDNA and fatty acids techniques, we will be able to determine sharks' diet and feeding behaviors. This will allow us a window into the true impact these top predators have on their ecosystem, assisting conservation efforts and laying the groundwork for using these new approaches to help us understand our oceans worldwide.