A team of scientists from several institutions has expanded a tool that makes it easier for border agents to identify whether mystery products come from endangered species.
Researchers, who hail from the American Museum of Natural History, Barnard College, and the University of Colorado-Boulder, have sequenced DNA for about two dozen hunted wildlife species--including monkeys, alligators, crocodiles, and antelope. They published the work in the September issue of the journal Conservation Genetics. The sequences were then added to the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) initiative, an open-access online repository of species codes.
"The database we've contributed to gives border agents the opportunity to send [a sample] off for identification," says research lead Mitchell Eaton, who is now a postdoctoral ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Without DNA analysis, law enforcement might only be able to charge a trafficker for illegal transporting agricultural products, versus a more serious charge for trading in endangered species.
The database has other advantages, Eaton says. While researching legal subsistence bushmeat hunting in Central Africa, Eaton sometimes had trouble identifying meat from the market. Using the database, he can find out exactly which species are being sold. The genetic community has been adding sequences to BOLD since 2003. "We need to have the ability to determine which species are being hunted in order to conserve these populations and the humans that depend on them," Eaton says.
Photo: A subsistence hunter in Africa tracks crocodiles. Used with permission from Mitchell Eaton.
Tags: Conservation, DNA, Green Tech
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