forensics & 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’ (Interpol)
- Includes illegal trade of endangered species (animals and plants), live or byproducts, falsification of wildlife products for economic gain, wildlife poaching
wildlife crime Consequences
- disease transmission, introduction of invasive species, over exploitation of natural resources
- Illegal trade affects people’s livelihoods, Biodiversity and endangered species.
- Over the past 10-15 years concern over loss of biodiversity has prompted governments to strengthen enforcement of regulating hunting and trade in wildlife
- Result: Wildlife Forensics
forensics definition
the application of scientific knowledge to legal matters
what is wildlife forensics and its 2 main aims
relatively new field- investigate wildlife-related crime (e.g. illegal trade of wildlife & wildlife products)
Main aims:
1. To examine, identify and compare evidence from wildlife crime scenes using a scientific procedure
2. To link evidence to victim & suspect
name some things used for evidence in wildlife forensics
- Blood samples (ideally fresh or dried condition)
- Tissue samples (frozen, dried)
- Whole carcasses
- Bones, teeth, claws, talons, tusks, hair, hides, furs, feathers
- Leather goods (e.g. purses, shoes, boots)
- Poisons , Pesticides
- Stomach contents
- Projectiles or weapons
- Medicines (e.g. rhino horn pills, tiger bone juice)
From some DNA can be extracted
how can molecular ecology be applied to conservation genetics
- Conservation genetics: molecular variation itself merits conservation. E.g. inbreeding depression, loss of genetic variation in small populations, accumulation of deleterious mutations (identifying the genetic diversities)
- Management: Genetic matching of populations or individuals for captive breeding, or the introduction of new individuals to declining populations
- Identification of conservation priorities
name the 2 DNA sources for conservation genetics
- non-invasive (faecal) samples
- eDNA (environmental DNA): DNA from cellular material shed in the environment (e.g. water or sediments) combined with DNA barcoding to identify invasive + endangered species without directly sampling the organism
why is there Prioritization for conservation
- Conservation planning operates from whole ecosystems to populations and individuals - molecular methods can be used for these
- Increasingly, there is a need to prioritize conservation action i.e. URGENCY: identify habitats, taxa or populations where action must be implemented immediately (cos can’t conserve everything)
what are the 2 units for conservation
Molecular techniques can be used to identify evolutionary significant units (ESUs) + management units (MUs) for conservation
what are Evolutionarily significant units (ESUs)
- sets of populations distinguished by strong phylogenetic structuring of mtDNA variation and divergence in the frequencies of nuclear alleles (i.e. a historically ‘deep’ divergence)
- units are useful for long-term management goals
what are Management units (MUs)
- sets of populations with distinct allele frequencies (compared with ESUs, these have a more ‘shallow’ history of divergence)
- represents populations that are connected with so little gene flow that they are functionally independent
- units are useful for short-term management goals
what are the 2 methods for conservation
In-situ:
- Identifying ESU & MU’s
- Assess levels of genetic diversity
- Estimate genetic connectivity
- Genetic Rescue
Ex-situ:
- Conserve species ‘out of the wild’
- Zoo’s, sperm & egg banks & seedbanks
- Selective breeding to retain genetic diversity
- Genetic Rescue
what commonly determines how important an area is for conservation
its species richness - unfortunately does not distinguish areas with different evolutionary histories
- For example, a desert community has fewer species than tropical rainforests, but one can argue that it is just as valuable to conserve if these species are unique to that habitat
what quantifies the evolutionary uniqueness of a set of organisms
phylogenetic information
e.g. a location which if lost, the whole clade would be lost, should have the highest conservation priority
what is genetic rescue and what does Successful Genetic rescue involve
an increase in population fitness (growth) owing to immigration of new alleles
- Successful Genetic rescue involves an increase in abundance, reflecting an increase in absolute fitness of the small population
