The HWA Monitoring Network

Thank you for participating in the 2023 pilot year of the HWA Monitoring Network.

Your time and commitment to the Newtork are greatly appreciated.

We invite you to share your experience and provide any suggestions you may have to enhance the Network by filling out a brief survey. Your feedback is invaluable and will significantly improve its efficiency and effectiveness.
2023 Results

Of the 50 traps that were sent out, 44 samples were received for analysis. An additional 20 control samples were included in the analysis (5 field positives, 5 field negatives, 5 lab positives and 5 lab negatives). The controls acted as predicted, confirming the eDNA protocol's effectiveness.

The community traps resulted in one new detection of HWA, that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. While it is unfortunate to see HWA spreading, this does validate this method as a valuable monitoring tool.

Please note, if you were not contacted by CFIA then your trap results were negative.
The Process

Once the samples left your hands, they were sent back to the Invasive Species Centre (ISC) where ISC and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) staff visually assessed the slides under a microscope for HWA crawlers. The petroleum jelly was then scraped off the slides into tubes and sent to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for PCR molecular analysis (the eDNA portion).

If HWA was suspected on the microscope slides during visual assessments, CFIA was notified immediately to follow up with an onsite inspection to determine HWA's presence and level of infestation.
Visual inspection of microscope slides
HWA crawlers in petroleum jelly on microscope slides
Petroleum Jelly scraped into tubes to be shipped to CFIA
What happens next?

Expect to hear from us in March to ship out refill kits, unless you have returned your trap. Traps are to be deployed in the same location year-to-year unless otherwise stated.

If you wish to no longer participate in the Network at any time, please contact Derissa Vincentini to arrange for the return of your trap.

If your trap was damaged or stolen and you require a replacement trap and have not been in contact with Derissa yet, please do so.

If you are interested in additional traps, please submit a new registration for any additional sites. Please note, traps are limited, and we will be prioritizing locations in South-western Ontario for an additional 50 traps in 2024, however we are still welcoming registrations for other locations throughout Ontario.

** Please do not register for existing trap locations. **
Other ways to monitor for HWA
Survey 123 - Community Science - HWA Survey
Ball Sampling
Sticky Interception Traps