<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}IMG_4238-250pxl.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 300px; float: right;" />In 2011, a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111211134006.htm" target="_blank">group of Danish scientists</a>&nbsp;described a technique they&rsquo;d created for monitoring endangered and threatened aquatic wildlife in an entire lake by simply drawing a sample of water the size of a thimble. The reason: in one small sample, they were able to use DNA traces in the water to detect what species were present in the lake. &nbsp;Work that would have required a team of people working throughout a field season could be reduced to one small sample and the use of DNA analysis.</p>
<p>
	Molecular techniques have revolutionized ecology, conservation, and taxonomy. &nbsp;Former Au Sable student, Tommy McElrath, saw the possibilities when he took Au Sable&rsquo;s &lsquo;Molecular Tools for the Field Biologist&rsquo; course, &ldquo;[The course] shattered the misconceptions a field biologist like me had about the molecular and biochemical realms of biology. I thought that molecular biology could only be used for questions posed at the molecular level. Through this course though, I realized it could help to answer questions that I was deeply interested in. Such questions as, &lsquo;How do these two organisms relate to each other?&rsquo; or &lsquo;Is this population of endangered mammals fit enough to survive?&rsquo; Questions that seem like obviously non-molecular questions can actually be informed by molecules like DNA.&quot;</p>
