scholarly journals Morphological species identification of wildlife forensic evidence based on digital images

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 100021
Author(s):  
Pepper W. Trail
Keyword(s):  
Species Identification ◽  
Digital Images ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Forensic Evidence ◽  
Morphological Species

scholarly journals Tusk or Bone? An Example of Ivory Substitute in the Wildlife Trade

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 40-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Sims ◽  
Barry W. Baker ◽  
Robert M. Hoesch
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Species Identification ◽  
Dna Analysis ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Bone Tools ◽  
Wildlife Forensics ◽  
Ancient Dna Analysis ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
Morphological Species ◽  
Ivory Trade

Bone carvings (and other ivory substitutes) are common in the modern-day lucrative international ivory trade.  Souvenirs for unknowing travelers and market shoppers can be made of non-biological material (plastic "ivory" beads) or skillfully crafted natural objects made to resemble something other than their true origin.  Many of these items are received at the U. S. National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory (NFWFL) for species identification as part of law enforcement investigations.  Morphologists at the Lab often receive uniquely carved ivory items that have been imported with little or no documentation.  In recent years, analysts examined several purported ivory tusks suspected to be walrus, a protected marine mammal.  After examination, the Lab determined their origin as carved leg bones of cattle using principles and methods of zooarchaeology and ancient DNA analysis.  The naturally long and straight ungulate metapodials had been cut, carved, filled, stained, and polished to closely resemble unmodified ivory tusks.  Morphological species identification of these bones proved to be a challenge since diagnostic characters of the bones had been altered and country of origin was unknown. Genetic analysis showed that the bones originated from cattle.  While bone is commonly used as a substitute for ivory, this style of artifact was not previously documented in the wildlife trade prior to our analysis.  Archaeological ethnobiologists commonly encounter bone tools and other forms of material culture from prehistoric and historic contexts; in this case bone tools come from a modern context, thus the application of methods common in zooarchaeology are situated in wildlife forensics.  In addition, results reported here pertain to cross-cultural ivory trade and conservation science.

scholarly journals DNA barcoding unveils the first record of Andrena allosa for Italy and unexpected genetic diversity in Andrena praecox (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Maurizio Cornalba ◽  
Paolo Biella ◽  
Andrea Galimberti
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Dna Barcoding ◽  
Species Identification ◽  
First Record ◽  
Global Distribution ◽  
Genetic Identification ◽  
Genetic Structuring ◽  
Eastern Sector ◽  
Morphological Species

DNA barcoding is well-known to support morphological species identification and it can be helpful for unveiling unexpected populations divergence patterns, especially in the context of the impacts on species posed by global change. In this note, we provided the first Italian record of the alpine mining bee Andrena allosa Warncke, 1975, confirmed with DNA barcoding. In addition, genetic identification of a specimen of Andrena praecox (Scopoli 1753) from western Italy pointed to an unexpected intraspecific genetic structuring at COI DNA barcoding region, with sequences from the Italian and the western sector of its global distribution differing 2.22% (p-dist) from populations of the eastern sector. Given the relevance of these records and of the genetic identity of bee populations from Italy, we argue that implementing molecular surveys in bee monitoring would surely contribute to the conservation of these important pollinators.

scholarly journals Species identification by conservation practitioners using online images: accuracy and agreement between experts

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail E. Austen ◽  
Markus Bindemann ◽  
Richard A. Griffiths ◽  
David L. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Species Identification ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Digital Images ◽  
Single Image ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Triturus Cristatus ◽  
Multiple Images ◽  
Crested Newt ◽  
The Uk

Emerging technologies have led to an increase in species observations being recorded via digital images. Such visual records are easily shared, and are often uploaded to online communities when help is required to identify or validate species. Although this is common practice, little is known about the accuracy of species identification from such images. Using online images of newts that are native and non-native to the UK, this study asked holders of great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) licences (issued by UK authorities to permit surveying for this species) to sort these images into groups, and to assign species names to those groups. All of these experts identified the native species, but agreement among these participants was low, with some being cautious in committing to definitive identifications. Individuals’ accuracy was also independent of both their experience and self-assessed ability. Furthermore, mean accuracy was not uniform across species (69–96%). These findings demonstrate the difficulty of accurate identification of newts from a single image, and that expert judgements are variable, even within the same knowledgeable community. We suggest that identification decisions should be made on multiple images and verified by more than one expert, which could improve the reliability of species data.

A revised dichotomous key for the mangrove crab genus Scylla De Haan, 1833 (Brachyura, Portunidae)

Crustaceana ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 91 (7) ◽  
pp. 847-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chona C. Vincecruz-Abeledo ◽  
Ma. Carmen A. Lagman
Keyword(s):  
Species Identification ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Diagnostic Features ◽  
Geometric Patterns ◽  
Dichotomous Key ◽  
Mangrove Crab ◽  
Mangrove Crabs ◽  
Morphological Species

Abstract Species identification in mangrove crabs of the genus Scylla De Haan, 1833 is problematic, due to the high intraspecific variation and the continuity of diagnostic features. To determine the hierarchy of characters that are most useful in differentiating Scylla species from the Philippines, 1,185 mangrove crabs were collected from seven sites across the Philippines. Morphological species identification was contrasted with morphometric and molecular techniques. The hierarchy of characters in the existing dichotomous key resulted in the misidentification of 245 samples. Errors stem from asymmetry in the features of the chelipeds and the continuity in the features of the frontal lobe spines. Considering mainly morphological characters, the most reliable traits were the geometric patterns in the swimming and walking legs. Nonetheless, 27 individuals with morphological ambiguities exhibited unique patterns in digested nuclear ITS-1 fragments, unreported in any known species of Scylla. A revised hierarchy of characters resulted in a 97.8% match with molecular species identification.

scholarly journals The power of metabarcoding: Can we improve bioassessment and biodiversity surveys of stream macroinvertebrate communities?

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarno Turunen ◽  
Heikki Mykrä ◽  
Vasco Elbrecht ◽  
Dirk Steinke ◽  
Thomas Braukmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Identification ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Morphological Identification ◽  
Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Stream Macroinvertebrate ◽  
Data Deficient ◽  
Morphological Species ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

Most stream bioassessment and biodiversity surveys are currently based on morphological identification of communities. However, DNA metabarcoding is emerging as a fast and cost-effective alternative for species identification. We compared both methods in a survey of benthic macroinvertebrate communities across 36 stream sites in northern Finland. We identified 291 taxa of which 62% were identified only by DNA metabarcoding. DNA metabarcoding produced extensive species level inventories for groups (Oligochaeta, Chironomidae, Simuliidae, Limoniidae and Limnephilidae), for which morphological identification was not feasible due to the high level of expertise needed. Metabarcoding also provided more insightful taxonomic information on the occurrence of three red-listed vulnerable or data deficient species, the discovery of two likely cryptic and potentially new species to Finland and species information of insect genera at an early larval stage that could not be separated morphologically. However, it systematically failed to reliably detect the occurrence of gastropods that were easily identified morphologically. The impact of mining on community structure could only be shown using DNA metabarcoding data which suggests that the finer taxonomic detail can improve detection of subtle impacts. Both methods generally exhibited similar strength of community-environment relationships, but DNA metabarcoding showed better performance with presence/absence data than with relative DNA sequence abundances. Our results suggest that DNA metabarcoding holds a promise for future anthropogenic impact assessments, although, in our case, the performance did not improve much from the morphological species identification. The key advantage of DNA metabarcoding lies in efficient biodiversity surveys, taxonomical studies and applications in conservation biology.

scholarly journals Biodiversity assessments in the 21st century: the potential of insect traps to complement environmental samples for estimating eukaryotic and prokaryotic diversity using high-throughput DNA metabarcoding

Genome ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila D. Ritter ◽  
Sibylle Häggqvist ◽  
Dave Karlsson ◽  
Ilari E. Sääksjärvi ◽  
A. Muthama Muasya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Identification ◽  
Environmental Dna ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Prokaryotic Diversity ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Morphological Species ◽  
Ecosystem Interactions

The rapid loss of biodiversity, coupled with difficulties in species identification, call for innovative approaches to assess biodiversity. Insects make up a substantial proportion of extant diversity and play fundamental roles in any given ecosystem. To complement morphological species identification, new techniques such as metabarcoding make it possible to quantify insect diversity and insect–ecosystem interactions through DNA sequencing. Here we examine the potential of bulk insect samples (i.e., containing many non-sorted specimens) to assess prokaryote and eukaryote biodiversity and to complement the taxonomic coverage of soil samples. We sampled 25 sites on three continents and in various ecosystems, collecting insects with SLAM traps (Brazil) and Malaise traps (South Africa and Sweden). We then compared our diversity estimates with the results obtained with biodiversity data from soil samples from the same localities. We found a largely different taxonomic composition between the soil and insect samples, testifying to the potential of bulk insect samples to complement soil samples. Finally, we found that non-destructive DNA extraction protocols, which preserve insect specimens for morphological studies, constitute a promising choice for cost-effective biodiversity assessments. We propose that the sampling and sequencing of insect samples should become a standard complement for biodiversity studies based on environmental DNA.

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