When is a native species also invasive, and how can we tell? This may seem a strange question, but it highlights the difficulty we sometimes face determining the boundaries of the area in which a species naturally occurs. Especially when detection is imperfect and those boundaries may change over time. Animals move. Plants move. Sometimes…
Tag: Invasive Species
CRISPR for Conservation
I’ve got this feeling that CRISPR is the next PCR. Have you ever met someone who was an early adopter of PCR? No, I mean an early adopter of PCR where the technique required three water baths, a swivel chair, a stop watch, and AN ACTUAL PERSON to move the reaction tubes between water baths every…
What We’re Reading- Feb 3, 2017
Finding management solutions for species that are threatened in their home ranges but introduced pests elsewhere Wildlife conservation and invasive species management are rarely straightforward. In some cases, a species that is an introduced pest in one place may be threatened in its native range. This creates a dilemma for managers: control them or conserve them? In this paper,…
What We Read: Favorite Papers of 2016
Part two of our Year in Review: we describe our favorite papers of 2016. These papers did not necessarily have to have been part of our Friday link dump series, What We’re Reading, which focuses on the WildlifeSNPits theme of the intersection between evolution and conservation. Anna So this year, after much deliberation, I’ve selected…
What We’re Reading- Oct 21, 2016
Ethics in Lethal Sampling for Research The editors of Biological Conservation recently rejected papers citing ethical considerations related to lethal sampling of the study organisms. They note that all of these studies had IACUC approval, but that approval does not necessarily make lethal sampling ethical, particularly for endangered species or species in protected habitats. The…
What We’re Reading- Oct 7, 2016
(Mal)adaptation on an Invasive Species Soapberry bugs (Jadera haematoloma) are adapted to feed on the nutrient dense seeds of faux persil (Cardiospermum corindum). Following introduction of the invasive golden rain tree (Koelreuteria elegans), some populations of soapberry bugs shifted hosts to feed on the invasive, which is easier to eat but less nutritious. Adaptation was observed…
The Evolutionary Argument against Wildlife Pets
What do sun bears, slow lorises, bobcats, and pythons all have in common? They are all part of the global trade of wildlife for use as pets. And these are only a few of the species kept as pets. There are no shortage of pieces describing the ecological, conservation, and/or ethical impacts of having wildlife…
What We’re Reading: Jan 29, 2016
Improving morphological diet studies with molecular ecology I’m sure you all know by now that many wildlife species are threatened by invasive predators. Diet studies are often used to understand the specific impacts of predators, to guide management actions. Traditionally, this has meant sorting through scats and gut contents to identify as many prey remains as possible. Of…
What We Read: Favorite Papers of 2015
Part two of our Year in Review: we describe our favorite papers of 2015. These papers did not necessarily have to have been part of our Friday link dump series, What We’re Reading, which focuses on the WildlifeSNPIts theme of the intersection between evolution and conservation. Anna I’m terrible at picking favourites, but after a…
Year in Review: What We Wrote 2015
Anna Two of my 2015 papers tackle aspects of the same question: how reliable are genetic tests to detect wildlife from trace DNA samples? It’s great to be able to use DNA to work out which species of mammal has been pooping in the woods, or to confirm the identification of a museum sample or roadkill of uncertain origin. But…
The numbat, Australia’s missing marsupial
So, I just made a discovery – November 7th 2015 is (or was) the first ever World Numbat Day! I had another post planned for this weekend, coincidentally about a different group of marsupials, but how could I go past this opportunity to write about numbats? I might be a little late to the festivities, but I…
What We’re Reading- Aug 28, 2015
Congratulations to SNPits blogger Anna on her new paper (sub) on DNA barcoding for invasive red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Tazmania. She wrote an accompanying blog post about the paper. From Benchtop to Desktop: Important Considerations when Designing Amplicon Sequencing Workflows Amplicon sequencing (PCR and sequencing of specific target genes) using high throughput sequencing platforms…
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