Suchergebnisse

Bringing together the most recent literature, this book provides an in-depth look at the field of wildlife forensic examination. Offering practical guidance, it helps investigators and lab technicians decide on best methods, including a determination of when basic microscopy is sufficient, when DNA testing should occur, and what tests or combination of tests should be executed in a particular circumstance. The text illustrates how to identify the species and geographic region of origin of an unknown sample. International contributors separate truth from myth in providing information and insigh

Wildlife crime is on a massive scale by whatever metric is used. The illegal trade in wildlife and related products is leading to the decline and extinction of many iconic species from rhino to tigers. Almost all countries are signatures to CITES and therefore should enforce national legislation if alleged infringements of trade of wildlife occur. No country is immune from this illegal trade although countries like Australia have their own specific wildlife crimes. Australia is home to many reptilian, amphibian and avian species that are highly prized, predominantly as pets. Collection of protected species from the wild is illegal in all jurisdictions yet policing remote areas of the outback, where so much of the native endemic fauna and flora lives, is nearly impossible. The illegal international trade in these species is highlighted by two case studies provided in this review. A further case highlights the issues of each of the six states of Australia having separate legislation, which is compounded when wildlife crime can be inter-state crime. Australia is one of the few countries having an institute, based at the Australian Museum, with an accredited wildlife forensic science laboratory and therefore the capability to undertake forensic testing of seized samples. One way to reduce wildlife crime may be by educating those who buy illegally seized products that there is a direct connection between the dead animal from which it came and the devasting effect this purchase has on the environment.

This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (August 2018) in accordance with the publisher's archiving policy ; Collection for touch DNA either at scenes or on items submitted to a forensic laboratory is based on assumptions as to where a person made direct contact. In many instances a swab may be applied to an area where no contact has been made. Many swabs may therefore be submitted for DNA profiling on which no DNA is present, resulting in the loss of both time and resources by analysing such swabs. This study has developed a simple, fast, DNA-staining and fluorescence microscopy-based screening method for swabs to indicate if there is any DNA from which to generate a profile. Ten different types of swabs were tested covering the major types used (foam, cotton and nylon). Each swab was treated by: no addition of dye or DNA, addition of dye only, addition of known DNA and addition of dye and DNA. The stain used was Diamond™ Nucleic Acid Dye (DD) and fluorescence microscopy was achieved with a digital microscope equipped with a blue LED light source (480 nm) for excitation and an emission filter of 510 nm. Two types of samples were tested, either buccal swabs or swabs collected from areas touched by volunteers and all analyses were performed in triplicate. The samples were collected and retained at room temperature with time intervals of 0 day, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days before detection using DD staining and fluorescence microscopy. Seven of the swab types used were found to be unsuitable due to the lack of any difference in the fluorescence detected when no DNA, or only the dye, or a combination of DNA and dye were added. Three swab types (black cotton swab, Ultrafine dental applicator, and Cylinder dental applicator) were found to be much more effective for collection of DNA. Further, stained cellular material retained its fluorescence for up to 4 weeks and swabs containing cellular material that had been stored for four weeks could be stained and visualised. Additionally, DD did not affect DNA profiling. This screening method has the potential to be a routine step in a forensic laboratory to save costs of processing samples where swabs are devoid of any DNA. This technique is rapid, easy, cheap, non-destructive and safe. ; Piyamas Kanokwongnuwut was supported by the Development and Promotion of Science and Technology Talent Project (DPST), Royal Thai Government Scholarship. Funding for the work was provided by the Attorney General's Department of South Australia via Forensic Science South Australia.

Context A wild population of non-native hog deer has established in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, and there is particular concern about its impact on native vegetation in Wilsons Promontory National Park (WPNP). Since 2015, there has been annual culling of hog deer at WPNP to reduce deer abundances and impacts. Aims The aims of this study were to use a kinship approach based on genotyping to assess contemporary dispersal of hog deer across WPNP, by identifying close kin, to determine whether dispersal of deer into culled sites from unculled sites may affect the long-term success of management there. Differences in the dispersal of male and female hog deer were also investigated. Methods In total, 91 hog deer tissue samples were collected across WPNP and surrounding sites. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were sequenced, and a final dataset comprising 8275 SNPs was used for analysis. First-order, second-order, and intermediate relative pairs were identified, and the geographic distance between these pairs was assessed to determine inter-pair distances to infer dispersal. Spatial autocorrelation between male and female samples was evaluated to measure the effects of sex-biased dispersal. Key results Only seven second-order relative pairs were found across different sites, with a 30 km distance between the furthest pair observed. However, most inter-pair distances across sites were ~5–10 km. Analyses of sex-biased dispersal showed that movement by deer was not strongly influenced by one sex. Conclusions Although hog deer in WPNP are genetically similar, most relatives that were sampled were not widely dispersed. This suggests that there is limited dispersal of hog deer across this park. Implications Recolonisation of hog deer at culled sites via dispersal is likely to be infrequent in WPNP. Kinship analysis provides an effective method of assessing contemporary dispersal and could be applied to other species to assess fine-scale movement across landscapes.