forensics and conservation Flashcards
what is wildlife crime
the taking, trading, exploiting or possessing of the world’s wild flora and fauna in contravention of national and international laws
consequences of wildlife crime
disease transmission,
introduction of invasive species,
natural resource exploitation
define forensics
the application of scientific knowledge to legal matters
what can be used as evidence in wildlife crime
blood samples, tissue samples, whole carcasses, bones, teeth, tusks, claws, hair, fur, feathers, leather goods (purses, shoes), poisons, pesticides, stomach contents, weapons, medicines
what is eDNA and what are the benefits to its use
DNA from cellular material shed in the environment (water or sediment) combined with DNA barcoding is a powerful tool to identify invasive species as well as endangered species without directly sampling the organisms
if trying to ID one species within a community, what sequencing method should be used and why
Next Generation Sequencing
Sanger sequencing can only be used with a sample containing only one type of DNA
what are ESUs and Mus
evolutionary significant units
management units
what are evolutionary significant units
sets of populations distinguished by strong phylogenetic structuring of mtDNA variation and divergence in the frequencies of nuclear alleles (e.g. a historically deep divergence)
what units are good for long term management goals
ESUs
what are management units
sets of populations with distinct allele frequencies, they have more ‘shallow’ divergence
what units are good for short term management goals
MUs
in-situ methods for conservation:
- identifying ESUs and MUs
- assessing levels of genetic diversity
- estimating genetic connectivity
- genetic rescue
ex-situ methods for conservation:
- conserving species ‘out of the wild’
- zoo’s, sperm and egg banks, seedbanks
- selective breeding to retain genetic diversity
- genetic rescue
what is the common way of classifying whether an area is important for conservation and what are the issues with it
usually determined by its species richness but this does not distinguish areas with different evolutionary histories
an area should be valuable to conserve if the species in it are unique to that habitat
what is genetic rescue
an increase in population fitness (growth) owing to immigration of new alleles
