Veliger Research Studies
#1 Study:
2013 PROOF OF CONCEPT STUDY
Determining whether specially trained dogs have the ability to detect the presence of Quagga Mussel Veliger Larvae.
We had the task of attempting to train canines to find Quagga Mussel Veliger Larvae (microscopic mussel babies).
Dogs with Jobs was up for the challenge!
Day 3 of the Veliger study proved that the dogs can find Veligers at low concentrations. We focused on 31 Veligers. We ran all 4 teams in blind tests (handlers had no idea in which of 5 buckets the Veligers were) and each team ran 4 courses. All teams were able to pick out the bucket with the 31 Veligers in it 100% of the time! AMAZING!
Success!
The final results of our study, our "Determining the Ability of Scent Detection Canines to Detect the Presence of Quagga Mussel Veliger Larvae" paper was submitted to the Management of Biological Invasions and published on their site (read publication).
Congrats to our smart dogs!
#2 Study:
2019 TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY STUDY
Determining the threshold capabilities of the dogs for detecting Quagga Mussel Veliger Larvae.
In partnership with:
We performed real world samplings for Veligers and determined the canine's abilities to tell us if the samples were from mussel infested lakes or not. Our publication with the results will be coming soon!
Our dogs did not disappoint!